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J,f.^ 



HON. JOSEPH G. CANNON. 
SPEAKER OF U. S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 



WITH SPEAKER CANNON 
THROUGH THE TROPICS 

A DESCRIPTIVE STORY OF A VOYAGE TO THE 
WEST INDIES, VENEZUELA AND PANAMA 



Containing Views of the Speaker upon 
our Colonial Possessions, the Panama Canal 
and Other Great Governmental Problems 



AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY AND GUIDE BOOK FOR 

STATESMEN, TRAVELERS AND STUDENTS, WITH 

CONCLUSIONS BY THE AUTHOR 



BY 



J. HAMPTON MOORE 

Member of Congress, Third District, Pennsylvania 



THE BOOK PRINT, PHILADELPHIA 

November, 1907 



f' 






jUBRAHYof OONGHESSj 
I Two Copies Received 
I NOV 26 t907 

Copyright Entry 

/Kif 5' /^n 

CLASS 4 XKc, t/o. 

\ COPY S> I 



Copyright 
J. HAMPTON MOORE 

1907 



7-Zq^^^ 



INTRODUCTORY. 



THAT fine quality of veneration which the American 
people bestow upon Uncle Sam as a national type is 
shared in large part by his sturdy prototype, the 
Speaker of the House of Representatives. In quaintness of 
manner, ruggedness of personality and keenness of intellect, 
it is questionable how far our national idol has the advantage 
of Mr. Cannon. Indeed, there are so many points of analogy 
between Uncle Sam in metaphor and Uncle Joe in propria 
persona, that we may readily account for the application to 
the Speaker of that endearing soubriquet which has become 
a household word in the United States. 

It was not intended by Mr. McKinley, our host, nor by 
any of his distinguished associates upon the voyage de- 
scribed in this book, that anything should be written about 
it. Nor have they sanctioned this publication. We were 
all in search of rest and recreation; but it is inconceivable 
that the wanderings of so typical and influential an Ameri- 
can as Mr. Cannon, through our colonial and insular pos- 
sessions, and under foreign flags, should not result in com- 
ments worth recording. From scant notes (not having first 
intended so to do) I have undertaken to telPthe story of this 
unusual trip. I have taken some liberties with the confi- 



VI INTRODUCTORY. 

dences and mannerisms of Mr. Cannon, and in some respects 
may have obtruded too far upon his good-nature and that of 
my colleagues, but our daily contact on shipboard and on 
shore and the freedom of talk at table were strong tempta- 
tions to write in keeping with the spirit of the occasion. 

The problem of our colonial possessions and the possible 
outcome of our efforts to complete the Panama Canal are 
attracting wide attention; and American thought is being 
directed to the establishment of friendlier relations with 
Central and South America. We are also confronted with 
that other important problem — the disposition of the Philip- 
pines. These matters are of vital concern to progressive 
citizens. 

It is not an unreasonable thought, therefore, that data re- 
specting our insular possessions, obtained at first hand and 
under exceptional circumstances as herein presented, should 
be helpful and of general interest. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



CHAPTER PAGE 

I. The Run to St. Thomas i 

II. Porto Rico 28 

III. Martinique 58 

IV. Barbados 85 

V. Trinidad 106 

VI. Venezuela 141 

VII. Caracas 169 

VIII. Jamaica 203 

IX. Colon and PxVnama 235 

X. The Panama Canal 260 

XI. Cuba 291 

XII. Havana 314 

XIII. Nassau 341 

XIV. Homeward Bound 372 

XV. Conclusions 393 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



PAGE 

Hon. Joseph G. Cannon. Photo by Bachrach & Bro., Wash- 
ington, D. C Frontispiece 

The Speaker on Deck. Photo by J. F. Wellington 13 

Native Divers. Photo by Mrs. George L. White 23 

The Morro^ San Juan. Photo by Walter Penn Shipley 29 

Colon Plaza and Castle Cristobal, San Juan. Photo by 

Hubert J. Somers 39 

Governor's Palace, San Juan. Shipley 42 

St. Pierre, Martinique, Before Destruction 59 

Fort de France, Showing Old English Fort and Island 

Opposite, where the Empress Josephine was Born 64 

Statue of Empress Josephine, St. Pierre. Mrs. White 65 

Market Place, Fort de France. Dr. Joseph Stokes 68 

Governor's Family (Martinique) and the Speaker. Photo 

by J. C. Eversman 71 

Native Sugar Vendors, Fort de France. Shipley 7^, 

Mountain View of St. Pierre. Stokes 75 

Excavated Street, St. Pierre. Stokes 78 

Street Scene, Bridgetown, Barbados. Shipley 83 

Suburbs of Bridgetown. Shipley 91 

Working in Sugar-Cane, Barbados. Shipley....- 93 

Pitch Eake, La BrEa Point, Trinidad. Somers 107 

East Indian Temple, Trinidad. Mrs. White 119 

ix 



X LIST OF IIvIvUSTRATlONS. 

t PAGE 

Cocoa Tree, Trinidad. Somers 121 

Saman Tree and Park, Port of Spain. Shipley 125 

Cannon on the "Dreadnaught." Eversman .... 131 

City oe Caracas from Mountain Road. Shipley 139 

Mountain Road to Caracas. Shipley 147 

Federae Paeace, Caracas. From the Hand-book of Venezuela. .151 

Indian Village, Venezuela. Stokes , 163 

Street Scene, Caracas. Shipley 167 

La Guaira and Caracas Railway. From the Hand-book of 

Venezuela 175 

Luncheon Under Bamboo Trees, La Victoria, Venezuela. 

Shipley 194 

Horse-Car, La Victoria. Mrs. White 196 

Under the Bamboo Tree, La Victoria. Photo by B. F. Wild. . .197 

The Family Wash, Jamaica. Shipley 201 

Ruins of Myrtle Bank Hotel, Kingston. Mrs. White 214 

Statue of Victoria, Kingston, Showing How It was Turned 

on Its Base by the Earthquake. Mrs. White 216 

Work of the Earthquake, Kingston. Shipley 219 

Earthquake Wreck, Kingston. Shipley 230 

American Repaying in Panama City. From the President's 

Illustrated Message 233 

A Sanitary Squad Prepared for Action, Panama. Photo by 

A. Bienkowski 251 

Village of Gatun, Panama. Shipley 254 

Houses in Gatun, Panama. From the President's Illustrated 

Message 256 

Culebra Cut, Panama Canal. Shipley 261 



LIST O^ IIvLUSTRATlONS. XI 

PAGE 

Inspecting Steam Shovei^ Near Culebra Cut. From the Presi- 
dent's Illustrated Message , 271 

Ancon Hospital and Capital oe Canal Zone. Bienkowski 275 

Cabana and the Morro, Havana. Somers 289 

MoRRO Castle, Havana. Mrs. White 295 

Wreck oe the "Maine/' Havana. Somers .297 

Native Funeral, Havana. Somers 315 

Approach to Colon Cemetery, Havana. Somers 320 

Patio in Residence oe U. S. Minister, Havana. Photo by 

Richard Harding Davis 337 

A Group on the "Colonia." Photo by J. J. Sullivan 342 

On the "Colonia" Before the Storm. Stokes 347 

Marooned Passengers Returning to the Ship (Nassau). 

Shipley 369 

Congressional Party Homeward Bound. Shipley 373 

Burning the Bark. Shipley 381 



WITH SPEAKER CANNON 
THROUGH THE TROPICS 



CHAPTER I. 

the: run to ST. THOMAS. 

Making up for Departure — New York Letter Carriers' Farewell — 
Impressions of Congress — The Scene at the Death — Power of 
the Press — The Five O'Clock-Gridiron-Burton Dinner — Under 
the Grrman Flag — A Lesson in Ship Subsidies — The Speaker 
Slumbers — Tawney Disturbed — Mann on the Food Supply — 
Passengers Becoming Acquainted — Reception to the Speaker — 
Arrival at St. Thomas — "Toss de Coin, Massa !" — A Sunday 
Parade in Colors — Cable Company Courtesies — Danish West 
Indian Prison — Our First Consular Experience — The Popular 
Post Card. 

"It looks good to me!" 

My friend Kendrick had attended the Five O'clock 
Club-Gridiron Dinner in honor of Mr. Burton, of the 
Rivers and Harbors Committee; he had taken a berth 
on the 12.35 train from Washington that he might see 
me off; he had joined Speaker Cannon and the others 
O'f the McKinley party at breakfast in Jersey City, and he 
now stood upon the promenade deck of the Bluecher, aft, 
overlooking the passengers, who were saying good-bye to 
the friends who had received the first summons to go ashore. 
My old friend. Dr. Keely, of the first Peary Relief Expedi- 
tion, had introduced us to some of the mysteries of the 
ship (to be sure, he had the assistance of Bilderbeck, of 
the Customs Service, whose participation in the ill-fated 
DeLong expedition had served as a talisman), and he had 
discovered a few Philadelphians on the passenger Hst and 
in the passage-ways. The indefatigable Eversman, who 
was to superintend the McKinley party, had Hned up the 



2 WITH SPEAKKR CANNON THROUGH THE TROPICS. 

trunk man, the deck-chair man, and others having to do 
with the comfort of the party, and "Uncle Joe" was the 
center of an admiring group of ladies and letter carriers, 
the latter having brought aboard a large floral horseshoe, 
with silken ribbons inscribed with the names of the Con- 
gressional party, in recognition of their support of the 
increase-of-pay bill, just passed by Congress. 

On all sides bustle and activity, salutations and blessings ! 
The great ship — one of the finest of the Hamburg- American 
Line — was clean as a new pin. And the officers and crew ! 
Who, after one swift glance at the nobby uniforms, the 
slick hairdressing, the Emperor William mustachios, the 
trim beards, and the "present arms" appearance of the 
entire outfit, could ever forget the picture? There they 
were, all of the same mould, officers, men, musicians — if not 
the Kaiser's kin, surely the Kaiser's kind. No Hoboken 
for theirs — they were German to the core. And so polite ! 
Xothing too difficult, nothing too^ troublesome. A noble- 
man here, with the military posture and a gracious "Yes, 
madam" ? No, only a room steward standing guard over 
milady's trunks. An ambassador, at the gang-plank yonder, 
exchanging a few parting words with the American society 
lady? No, only a subordinate officer receiving final instruc- 
tions (and something on the side) to keep an eye upon the 
young gentleman in 743. 

Altogether, a pretty scene — husbands and wives, sweet- 
hearts and beaux, young and old, some for rest and some 
on pleasure bent, nearly three hundred in all, married and 
single, the Congressional party held in leash by admiring 
friends and serenaded by the Letter Carriers' Band, the 
ship's band alternating, until the last bugle call — no wonder 
Kendrick, bright, athletic, handsome^ no wonder he gave 
vent to his feelings. 



the: run to ST. THOMAS. 3 

'It looks good to me, too," I said, ''but what about the 
rest the doctor ordered?" 

Kendrick didn't answer, for the movement toward the 
gang plank cut short all further talk. The hawsers came 
up, and in a few moments the great ship, with her three 
hundred passengers, her crew of nearly five hundred, and 
her cargo of provisions and coal for a month's voyage, was 
steering out of the Hudson River, through the picturesque 
New York Harbor, into the Atlantic Ocean. But we were 
not to go unheralded. The letter carriers are a persistent 
lot. They had fought many long years for an increased 
compensation, and they rightfully believed that every 
Congressman on board had been their friend. Most men 
who seek favors of public officials are inclined to forget 
what has been done for them when the object sought has 
been attained, but the letter carriers of New York appar- 
ently were not of that stripe, and they wanted Speaker 
Cannon to know it. They wanted Senator Curtis, of Kansas, 
to know it; they wanted Mr. Sherman, of New York, Chair- 
man of the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee, 
and in Congress, Chairman of the Committee on Indian 
Affairs, to know it ; they wanted Mr. Tawney, of Alinne- 
sota. Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, to 
know it; they wanted their particular friend, Mr. Olcott, 
of New York, to know it ; they wanted Mr. Loudenslager, 
Chairman of the Committee on Pensions, to know it. They 
knew what a great objector Mr. Mann, of Illinois, was, 
and they wanted him to know how they appreciated his 
support of the measure; and they were especially anxious 
to let Mr. McKinley, of Illinois, the host of this distin- 
guished party, know how glad they were to have the oppor- 
tunity, under his auspices, to express their gratitude. So, 
after they had left the great ship, with its five hundred and 



4 WITH spkaki:r cannon through the tropics. 

twenty-five feet of length and sixty-two feet of beam, they 
took their band and their megaphone, captured Congress- 
man Calder, of New York, boarded a tug, and set up a 
voluntary escort out to quarantine. 

This was the morning of Tuesday, March 5th, 1907. 
The day before had been a busy one in National affairs. 
The Constitution provides that Congress shall adjourn 
March 4th. All work must be done by high noon. I was 
filling an unexpired term and had served but three months. 
I had never seen a Congress die. Throughout the session 
the proceedings had greatly interested me. I had been 
impressed by the wonderful grasp of public affairs 
exhibited by the older men. Their knowledge of law and 
of precedent had admonished me to study, to read, to think. 
Apart from the many exactions of my own district and the 
hurried researches necessary to a crude understanding of 
the practice and privileges of the House, I had come to 
respect the personnel of the House and to appreciate the 
learning, ability and patriotism of the leaders. The pro- 
fessional writer's estimate of the Congressman no longer 
affected me. I had attempted a few things which I believed 
to be in the interest of my constituency, and soon learned 
that patience and diplomacy were valuable adjuncts. It 
was not wise, I found, to assume too much, and did not. 
The men, whose colleague I had become, were picked men ; 
here and there, owing to peculiar political conditions, there 
were some who might not stand in the rank of Clay or 
Webster, but there were few, very few, who were to be 
set down as weaklings. Before I knew the Speaker very 
well, I had heard him, in public utterance, present the 
situation : 

''These men have been sent to Congress by the people of 
the various Districts. Theirs is the responsibility of repre- 



THi: RUN TO ST. THOMAS. , 5 

senting the people as the people desire to be represented. 
If they come back, it's a pretty fair sign that the people are 
satisfied. If the people are not satisfied, the chances are 
they will not send them back." 

This is not an exact quotation, but it is very like. I have 
often used the argument with regard to municipal and 
State legislators, and now believe it to be true of the 
National legislature — that the masses of the people are fairly 
represented in legislative bodies. It may shock the gram- 
marian that an unlettered man may go into the City 
Councils, or the State legislature, but it will generally be 
found that the representative who is not pleasing to the 
social leader is the choice of a District which has no social 
aspirations, and that he is closer to the body of the people 
than the satuant would be. 

I say the personnel of Congress impressed me. As I 
looked about, listened and studied, pondering over the sig- 
nificance and magnitude of the proceedings, marvehng at 
the development of the country from the four-million-per- 
annum, eight-per-cent. -interest, mule-train days of the 
founders of the nation, to the billion-dollar days of scientific 
agriculture, varied manufactures, vast transportation facili- 
ties, enormous trade and wealth of eighty millions of people, 
I could not believe that the Jeffersons, the Adamses, the 
Hamiltons, the Clays and the Websters were all dead. I 
believed we had them in all their strength and learning 
and patriotism; had them in such profusion that, because 
of their numbers only, they must travel along with the 
multitude, dependent for their halo upon the opportunity 
which now of necessity must come to the fg;w. 

It was agreeable to meet and hear the men, some of 
whom I had known only through the newspapers. To 
watch the Speaker and the leaders upon either side was a 



6 WITH SPEAKER CANNON THROUGH THE TROPICS. 

study of itself. The "pulling and hauling" of the com- 
mittee chairmen was amusing and interesting. Every 
Congressman, whether first termer or not, gets a little of it, 
too. As his influence increases, he gets more; and so, 
experience and observation are valuable to him. He learns 
to be amiable; he learns to promise little. After one or two 
rubs he learns to go slow. 

"Better feel your way, young man ; don't do it all at once. 
The nation's gone along fairly well during the last century — 
better not upset it right off!" 

I heard an old-timer apply this advice to a young mem- 
ber — I suspect he was a reformer — and I guess the advice 
was good. Come to think of it, the nation has done tolerably 
weh. 

But I am thinking of the last day in Congress. It was 
a day of excitement. All was tension on the floor of the 
House; the galleries were packed to the doors; Speaker 
Cannon and the leaders had been under heavy pressure for 
the past week ; they had crowded their work into nights and 
Sundays, and at times had been under such stress for a 
quorum that dinner parties were broken up and homes were 
invaded to bring the weary members in. Through it all 
the Speaker had suffered from an attack of the grip, which 
quickened his desire to close the session successfully. 

And now the last bit of buttonholing had been done, the 
last report had been filed. The trophy of his affectionate 
colleagues had been presented to General Grosvenor, of 
Ohio ; the usual felicitous speeches of Mr. Williams, the 
leader of the Opposition, and of the Speaker had been made ; 
business and partisanship had been given over to sentiment 
and brotherhood, and the American Congress was about 
to quit. 

As the gavel of the Speaker fell the House broke into 



the: run to ST. Thomas. 7 

song, the crowded galleries catching up the refrain. Demo- 
crats and Republicans, mingling with each other and with 
their troops of friends, waved tiny American flags, shook 
hands in good old American fashion, said their fond "good- 
byes," and sang the short and busy second session of the 
59th Congress to its death. It was grateful to many, 
but some were not to return — some whose associa- 
tions and services had endeared them to the House — and 
so a touch of sadness at the parting was easily detected in 
the closing hymn, "God be with you till we meet again." 

But we were out upon the broad Atlantic. The morning- 
newspapers, God bless them, we had barely seen 
them, were now being opened, the last time, perhaps, 
for thirty days. Think of it ! Going out of news- 
paper range for a full month ! The Speaker of the 
House of Representatives, members of the Senate and 
House, and nearly three hundred other active spirits 
addicted to the newspaper habit, living upon newspapers, in 
fact, cut ofif entirely from their favorite morning diversion ! 
We had the Marconi, and we expected to make a few stops, 
but where would the big events in the world's daily routine 
catch up to us? Perhaps it was a good thing. The reading 
habit is like the tobacco habit — like every other habit — it 
becomes a part of the nature of a man. If you can shake 
it off now and then the change may be good for you. On 
one occasion I accompanied the Pennsylvania Editors' 
Association on an annual excursion to Long Branch and 
Coney Island. The ladies and gentlemen of the party were 
having a good time, and when, in the course of their 
wanderings, they met the Mayor of Newark — a Mr. Haines, 
I think — they insisted upon a speech. The Mayor didn't 
want to speak, but the editors persisted. At last the Mayor 
lifted his silk hat and began. He jollied the ladies and 
praised the men. 



8 WITH spi:ak^r cannon through thk tropics. 

"And do I understand," he said, suavely, "that Coney 
Island, whose hospitality I am myself enjoying, has the 
honor of entertaining the entire editorial force of Penn- 
sylvania ?" 

A youthful enthusiast answered "Yes." 

"Then I am thinking," added the Mayor, "what a great 
relief it must be to the grand old Keystone Commonwealth !" 

The power of the press ! In its province is the making 
or breaking of reputations, homes, business ; and yet, if the 
truth be known, there is a deal of satisfaction to most men 
in having their names in print. We may go a step farther, 
and suggest that the passion for newspaper notoriety is 
sometimes so great that men would rather be assailed in 
public than not be mentioned at all. 

But I had not intended tO' fathom the depths of newspaper 
ethics. The papers, this morning, were doing all I could 
wish them to do; they were giving full reports of the Five 
O'clock Club-Gridiron Dinner and, incidentally, were vindi- 
cating again the great power of the press to mould public 
sentiment. I found Speaker Cannon and the rest of the 
party interested in what they were saying. For several 
years the necessity for deepening the channel of the Dela- 
ware had been urged upon Congress. That it was not 
deepened as rapidly as commerce seemed to demand was 
generally attributed to Chairman Burton, of the Rivers and 
Harbors Committee. The more Chairman Burton stuck to 
what he believed to be equitable in the general treatment 
of rivers and harbors, including the Delaware, the more 
insistent the newspapers of Philadelphia became. They 
made the fight ; commercial and trades bodies followed. 
They attacked Burton, and so did the trades bodies; The 
harder they hit the more determined they made the Chair- 
man and the tighter around him they bound the leaders of 



THE RUN TO ST. THOMAS. 9 

Congress. The bitterness of the fight was manifested in 
the session just closed. At last, Mr. Burton was sustained 
by the House. The great majority of the members believed 
him to be right. But the fight was not lost. In th^ closing 
days of the session the newspapers were appealed to; so 
was Mr. Burton. The Philadelphia Five O'clock Club 
dinner to the famous Gridiron Club, of Washington, was 
coming on to put the finishing touches to the last day of 
Congress. Mr. Burton accepted the invitation to attend; 
so did the newspaper editors of Philadelphia. 

The retiring Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Shaw, opened 
the speech-making with a farewell to official life; the 
redoubtable Champ Clark, and his veteran, but admiring, 
antagonist. General Grosvenor, followed. Then came a 
long list of distinguished speakers, men conspicuous in the 
popular eye; the former Speaker of the House of Repre- 
sentatives, General Keifer, of Ohio; Congressman Nicholas 
Longworth, son-in-law of President Roosevelt; Richmond 
P. Hobson, whose individual heroism at Santiago had 
attracted the attention of the world, and who had since been 
elected a member of Congress ; Senator Scott, of West Vir- 
ginia, the bosom friend of President McKinley, and of the 
late Senator Hanna; Judge Dimner Beeber, President of 
the Union League, of Philadelphia; eloquent, forceful, 
witty — all en rapport with the spirit of the meeting. Inter- 
spersing the speeches were occasional features of the two 
distinguished clubs, led by President Blythe, of the Gridiron, 
and President Blankenburg, of the Five O'clock, and then 
the pitting against each other in song of the two Vice- 
Presidents, Henry and McCall. 

The famous newspaper writers of the Capital, and visiting 
editors of great newspapers, vied with the statesmen and 
the politicians in the good fellowship of the moment. In 



10 WITH SPE:AK]eR CANNON THROUGH THE^ TROPICS. 

this delightful presence, Mr. Burton — the bitterly assailed 
Chairman of the Rivers and Harbors Committee — was 
introduced as the guest of the evening. If ever the bitter- 
ness of a strong heart might be forever banished and the 
spirit of good fellowship admitted, here was the opportunity 
for it. Mr. Burton rose; he had promised to talk of the 
great subject he had made his life study, and he launched 
it immediately. His deep knowledge, his unquestioned 
sincerity, were at once manifest. The whole subject was 
hurriedly gone over, the importance of the development 
was clearly stated, and then he touched upon the Delaware. 
At this the Philadelphians cheered. Then came the long- 
looked-for promise — the promise that when certain rea- 
sonable conditions were complied with, the great river of 
shipbuilding, of manufacturing and of commerce should 
be reached. It was the coming together of two imperious 
bodies. The Philadelphians were made happy, and Mr. 
Burton sat down satisfied. Good feeling had been restored. 

Then Speaker Cannon added a little oil to the hitherto 
troubled waters, with praise for the Chairman of the Rivers 
and Harbors Committee and praise for Philadelphia and 
her great manufacturing and commercial interests. ''Great 
city, Philadelphia," said the Speaker, "worthy of all that 
Congress may do for it, and, in the fullness of time, she 
will come into possession of her own." 

The man whose power in the United States is second 
only to that of the President; the Chairman of the Appro- 
priations Committee, which had just disposed of nearly a 
billion dollars for the needs of the Government; the 
Chairman of the Republican Congressional Committee, 
and other official advocates of an American Merchant 
Marine, were now familiarizing themselves with a great 
ocean liner, from the broad stern of which floated the 



the: run to ST. THOMAS. . II 

flag of the German Empire. They had fought for an 
American Merchant Marine, and had won out in the House, 
but the measure failed in the Senate. What was the use 
of worrying about it now ? The people of the United States 
had not fully realized the importance of putting the 
American service upon the seas. The farmer, in many 
instances, had not been able to understand that he must 
necessarily participate in the development of the American 
Merchant Marine, and yet, we had fought for it because 
we knew that England and Germany were developing their 
shipping, and believed we should be abreast of them. 

Here was an evidence of Germany's success : "Built 
especially for the tropics. Twin-screw steamship; tonnage, 
12,000; horse-power, 8,000." What special interests in 
the tropics had the German Empire? What islands of the 
West Indies owed her allegiance that she should build and 
subsidize "especially for the tropics." 

"Grand cruise to the West Indies," said the advertisement : 

"From New York, January 31, 1907, and March 5, 1907, 
to San Juan (Porto^ Rico), St. Thomas, St. Pierre, Fort 
de France (Martinique), Bridgetown (Barbados), Port 
of Spain, La Guayra (Venezuela), Puerto Cabello, Colon 
(Panama Canal), Kingston (Jamaica), Santiago de Cuba, 
Havana (Cuba), Nassau, N. P., and returning to New 
York." 

Rather close to the United States all these places, and 
rather remote from the German Empire, but still, the fact 
remained that Germany provided the ship and we — proud, 
boastful citizens of the United States — were sailing along 
our own coast under her auspices, with a non-English- 
speaking crew and with every cabin, gangway, deck and 
door labeled in German letters. First was the boat deck, 
with the wheel house, the officers' quarters, the gymnasium. 



12 WITH SPE:aKI:r cannon THROUGH THI^ TROPICS. 

supplied with all the modern athletic' training devices, for 
which the Germans are famous, and the grill room; then 
the promenade deck, with its social hall, with its writing- 
desks, its library, its private suites, and its smoking rooms 
and Marconi station — a deck so long that nine times around 
was reckoned a mile ; then the salon deck, with its dining 
room, its private suites, its baths and social halls, upper 
and main decks lined with extensive apartments for tourists. 
With nearly 300 rooms or suites in all, at rates ranging 
from $150 to $2,000, it is not difficult to estimate for one 
trip alone how much passes from American into German 
hands. But who cared? It was good service that was 
wanted, and the Americans had the money to pay. "The 
best is none too good for the American traveler," said the 
observer, and the German was giving him the best. Nor 
was the German forgetting the Fatherland. The paintings 
in the various salons and smoking rooms were patriotic. 
The life story of the great ''Bluecher," after whom the ship 
was named, was told in medallions and carvings in the 
decorations of the dining salon. The other great field 
Marshals and Generals — Bismarck, the elder Wilhelm, and 
the present Emperor — were conspicuous among them. The 
Germans were giving us better service than we could 
get at home. They were competitors for passenger traffic, 
as they were very successful competitors for the merchant- 
carrying trade of the world. The fact that we were sailing 
under German auspices occasioned no complaint. The 
safe and business-like captain, the well-trained officers and 
crew and the nimble stewards were there for service. They 
inspired confidence and appreciation. The horrible word, 
"subsidy," didn't scare them, their government, or their 
farmers — they were settling the subsidy question, and they 
were doing it with our money. If we didn't care, why 
need they? 




THE spe;ake;r on de:ck. 



the: run to ST. THOMAS. 15 

Speaker Cannon, still wearing the overcoat that had 
sheltered him from the chilly air of New York, drew his 
slonch hat down over his forehead until the rim nearly 
touched the ashes of the well-chewed cigar that was rising 
to an angle of 45 degrees, and running his eye along the 
line of deck chairs labeled ''McKinley," made his choice, 
and fell lazily into the ample folds of one of them. He 
had taken a few turns around the deck, had investigated 
the mysteries of the gymnasium, even to the camel-back 
rider, which he pronounced good, had acknowledged the 
salutations of the Captain and the many passengers who 
had sought an introduction, and now he imagined himself 
in the restful purlieus of — well, back to Danville. Not 
Danville, ''111," as someone dared to suggest, but Danville, 
"hale and hearty." As Curtis, Sherman, Tawney, Mann 
and others closed in about the Speaker, I watched the 
promenaders, passing to and fro, and listened to their 
comments. 

"Did you see him?" 

"Who?" 

"Uncle Joe." 

"Yes, I was presented to him." 

"Likes his cigar, don't he?" 

"He don't look so autocratic." 

"Has he such power as the papers say?" 

"Is he a candidate for President?" 

"How old is he?" 

"Seventy-one? Do you think it would be safe to elect 
him President?" 

"Don't you deceive yourself, he's the youngest old man 
you ever saw!" 

But national greatness yields as common clay to the 
call of Morpheus. The Speaker was asleep. The ample 



l6 WITH SP^AKl^R CANNON THROUGH THE: TROPICS. 

German lunch, with its soporific tendencies, had gotten in 
its work ; the ship subsidy, the tariff, the appropriations bill, 
the national forest reserve, John Wesley Gaines, those 
ancient war claims, the speech of '73, the President's Porto 
Rican message, the old home at Danville, and our inter- 
national relations were now floating in sweet ethereal 
harmony. The powerful left hand, which lately gripped 
the dreaded gavel on the call of ''division," no longer 
chopped its way through space, ''countin' 'em up" by sixes, 
nines and elevens. It was now inactive and still. The great 
master of legislative direction had put behind him all the 
cares of oflice and was asleep. Our host, McKinley, was 
certainly a wonder ! The Speaker asleep ! Who had ever 
caught the Speaker napping? What the greatest corpora- 
tions had tried to do, what the cleverest manipulators in 
national politics had vainly attempted, had been accom- 
plished easily and innocently by this modest Congressman 
from the Champaign District of Illinois. 

For one full hour the ship ploughed on with no sign of 
returning life from the McKinley deck chairs. We 
were beyond sight of land, and the hitherto greenish 
water, true to the narrative of Lafcadio Hearn, was 
growing bluer and more blue. The deck stewards came 
with their bouillon and raw beef sandwiches, but there 
was no response. The Speaker was free from cavil and 
from care. Senator Curtis was dreaming of the grassy 
slopes and gorgeous sunflowers of his beloved Kansas ; 
Sherman was clipping coupons in his bank at Utica ; Olcott 
was purchasing crash suits in the far-away Barbados ; 
Loudenslager was out at sea in a pilot boat cutting luscious 
Jersey cantaloupes ; Mann was raising royal palms in his 
Chicago flower garden ; Tawney was leading the singing 
of ''Old Hundred" in the Methodist Sunday-school at 



the: run to ST. THOMAS. 17 

Winona, and McKinley was uniting the cities and towns 
of Illinois in one grand network of tracks and trolleys. 

It was Tawney who awoke first. An over-attentive 
gentleman from New Jersey, escorting a lovely young 
widow from South Carolina, crowded her too closely upon 
the Minnesota statesman, and the collision had aroused 
him. It was as if someone had criticised the action of the 
Appropriations Committee, as though some temeritous 
individual still persisted in making provision for Geological 
Survey tests. There was opposition somewhere, and it 
must be stamped out at once. So it seemed as Tawney 
spoke : 

''What the " — he saw the sweet face redden — "are 

you doing, Mr. Speaker?" 

The young lady passed by; the roused Speaker rubbed 
his eyes ; the good old childhood days were lingering as 
a memory. 

''A soft answer turneth away wrath !" he said, and then, 
with a resounding smack upon the extended hand of 
Sherman, exclaimed : 

"Why stand ye here idle?" 

It was the signal for the promenade — a promenade which 
became a part of the thirty days' routine. 

With such a large company, dependent entirely upon the 
ship refrigerators, I was interested in knowing how we 
were to be fed. So, also, I found was Mann, whose 
demonstrations in open Congress in support of a pure 
food bill had been handed down as worthy the admiration 
of his beloved Chicago, the greatest food-producing, packing 
and distributing center of the country. 

I studied Mann's philosophy, and found he believed it 
necessary to life that man should eat; that if, after eating, 
he had nothing else to do, then he might sleep; that if the 



l8 WITH SPIJAKER CANNON THROUGH THE TROPICS. 

cuisine pleased the eye, it might be found to please the 
stomach, especially under a foreign flag and a new chef. 

When, therefore, the Captain announced at the evening 
meal that there was coal enough aboard to keep us under 
steam for thirty days and food enough to sustain us for 
a like period, I appreciated the few ''asides'' which indicated 
that the "Great Objector" intended having proof. 

"German pancake? Yes, I think I will try a German 
pancake. Otto," he would say. "Let Tawney have his sea- 
barbel; I can get fish at any time." Then the Chairman 
of the Appropriations Committee would take up the menu, 
and, in choicest German, exclaim : 

"Otto, never mind him, bring me some 'Doppelschrauben- 
Postdampfer !' " and Otto would smile and say : 

"Sorry, Mr. Tawney, but dat's yust oud." 

"Then bring me fish — and bring it quick! And say, 
Otto, what is this Schaumspeise von Ganseleber?" 

"Oh, yah, dat's yust moss of goose-liver." 

"Well, pass that on to Mann !" 

"Very well, I'll try it," Mann would reply. 

Day by day the other passengers were coming into closer 
contact with the Congressional party. 

"I have been introduced to him," some one would say of 
the Speaker, "and he is very companionable, but he doesn't 
say much ; can't we get him to speak ?" The Speaker had 
been adroit. He was agreeable to all comers and ready for 
any introduction, but he was out for rest, too. 

"And then what would McKinley think," he said, "I am 
under orders." 

But the resourceful Eversman and a few of the enthusi- 
astic ladies arranged that Mr. McKinley should give a 
reception to the Speaker. The printing machine was set in 
motion and each passenger, on the morning of March 8th, 
the fourth dav out, was handed an invitation . 



the: run to ST. THOMAS. I9 

At dinner that evening the whole ship was astir, many of 
the ladies appearing decollete and in reception attire, 
while the gentlemen were in full evening dress. It happened 
that the day set apart was also the birthday of one of the 
Congressional party. He, taken by surprise, was led into 
the great dining room by the Speaker, who insisted upon 
sharing the honors of the evening. 

The dinner over, followed by frequent calls for speeches, 
which were not made, Mr. McKinley led his guest, the 
Speaker, accompanied by the Captain of the ship, to the lee- 
side of the promenade deck. What the Germans do, they do 
well. The open view of the sea had been shut out completely. 
From the railing to the deck above, the whole side of the 
ship had been closed up with canvas coverings and the deck 
itself, polished like a ball-room floor, was briUiantly illumi- 
nated by electric bulbs in the American national colors, with 
lavish festoons of artificial greens and colored flowers. Then 
the reception began, the ladies and gentlemen greeting the 
Speaker with messages of congratulation and he returning a 
pleasant word to each. Down the line of Congressmen they 
came, from the oldest and most experienced, to the youngest, 
until the reception was over. ''On with the dance," was then 
the cry. The American papers, which came to us later in 
the course of our travels, commented upon the Speaker's 
ability as a dancer. Had they seen him, at the suggestion of 
a bevy of ladies who surrounded him, offer his arm to one of 
the stately matrons of Chicago and lead her forth, they would 
have admired his grace and suavity as well as his choice. 
It was the old style dance, a little too far back into the 
woods of the terpsichorean art for the youngsters of the 
modern ''light fantastic," but it had the good old swing of 
the Western school days, and it caused the passengers to "sit 
up and take notice." The dance over, the band proceeded 



20 WITH spe;akkr cannon through thi: tropics. 

to the after deck, where the passengers insisted upon hear- 
ing the Speaker, — but he was not yet ready, A brash 
young member of the delegation, urged on by his fellows, 
stepped into the middle of ''the ring," as it were, and, attract- 
ing the attention of his novel after-dinner audience, insisted 
that the time had come to ''get together." 

"In such a company upon such a ship, talent must not go 
to waste. We are to be fellow-voyagers for thirty days. 
Great nationalities are represented here and we must find 
out what there is in them." He then called upon the 
Speaker, but the lady from Chicago was still engaging his 
attention. 

"Go on with the dance," said he, "we've enough of speech- 
making." 

Then Sherman was introduced, and Mann, and Senator 
Curtis, and the modest McKinley. The entertainment 
proceeded until most of those who could be caught in the 
mesh of the chairman were advanced to "do a turn." It was 
the Gridiron-Five O'clock Club over again — the begin- 
ning, in fact, of a series of entertainments which added 
greatly to the general enjoyment. 

Our Captain was a typical German. He spoke English 
tolerably well, but with the accent which is so often 
mimicked upon the stage. In his way the Captain was a 
wag. He was a strict disciplinarian, but he didn't refuse to 
be pleasant. Many of the passengers had special letters to 
him and were expecting special courtesies. He was careful 
how he dispensed favors, and when put in a corner managed, 
as a rule, to escape with a whole skin. Take the two ladies 
w^ho seemed to be especial objects of the Captain's care. 
One of them was an elderly lady of aristocratic tendencies, 
who had been a great traveler and whose memory of great 
men and oreat incidents was remarkable. She knew every- 



THE RUN TO ST. THOMAS. 21 

body of consequence from the time of George Washington 
and had been intimately associated with all the distinguished 
figures in aristocratic circles in the United States. She was 
one of the committee of ladies assisting in the reception to 
Speaker Cannon. The other was a remarkably clever and 
versatile widow, much younger in years, but surely as ex- 
perienced in the matter of information and travel. The 
widow, of whom we shall hear more, had startled in early to 
let it be known that she was upon the ship. She never ap- 
peared in the same hat worn the same way, a second time. 
She dressed differently for every meal. She was chic and 
daring, even to the point of smoking a cigarette, if tempted 
by her escort. It was plain that many of the other ladies 
upon the boat were keeping their eye upon her. She also 
was upon the committee for the Speaker's reception. The 
Captain, by his suavity and wit, managed to maintain peace 
between these antagonistic characters. 

The sun was rising in all its tropical magnificence when the 
big ship drew into the harbor of St. Thomas on the morning 
of March loth. We were all anxiously waiting the sight of 
land, the unexpected beauty of which aroused a chorus of 
admiring comments. We knew little of St. Thomas, except 
that it was an old Danish province, controlled by a Parlia- 
ment that had not many years since dickered with the United 
States with a view to annexation. The United States, un- 
der President McKinley, had thought well of St. Thomas as 
a coaling station in the West Indies and the islanders had 
been anxious to sell, but the negotiations had occasioned a 
scandal in the Parliament of Denmark, resulting in the com- 
plete failure of the project. We were told that St. Thomas 
was a free port and that it had formerly been one of the 
greatest of all the ports of the West Indies. 

As we glanced from the ship's deck that morning over 



22 WITH spe:ake:r cannon through the tropics. 

the beautiful settlement nestling at the neck of the harbor 
and the foot of the encircling hills, we could readily under- 
stand why such a port had once been popular as a haven for 
the wandering tramps of the sea. It was the dry season 
and the verdure was not as fresh, we were told, as it would 
be, but the yellowish tint was so slight, against the red 
and the green, as to be almost indiscernible. The red-tiled 
roofs of the natty houses rose up against three hills, sug- 
gesting a trinity of settlements connecting at the shore line. 
Over to the right was the Castle of Bluebeard, but all that 
we could learn of it was that it had once been the home of 
pirates. Around the circle were warehouses, residences and 
plantation buildings, with steamship wharves and coaling 
stations on to the left. A whole line of tropical trees, in- 
cluding the palm, and the banana and the bay tree, gave us 
the first suggestion of tropical life, but the coming of small 
boats, containing the black-skinned divers of whom we had 
heard, amused us. To most of the passengers the divers 
were the great novelty. Our anchor had just touched the 
bottom, about midway in the land-locked harbor, when the 
shrill cries of the negroes in the small boats rose above the 
clanking of the chains. 

"Toss de coin, Massa !" ''Toss de coin, Massa !'' ''Out- 
side, Massa!" "Outside, Massa!" (meaning throw the 
coin away from the big boat). 

The scene was unusual, and the passengers, eager to test 
the prowess of the natives, flipped their halves and quarters 
and dimes with reckless prodigality. As each coin was 
thrown a diver jumped or dove, and in most instances 
grabbed the coin before it touched bottom. Sometimes the 
diver would reach bottom, a depth of 40 feet, and remain 
under water what seemed a sufl^ocating period, but would 
ultimately follow the bubbles to the surface and bounding 



the: run to ST. THOMAS. 23 

upward like a log, exhibit the coin in his teeth. In less than 
half an hour the occupants of fully fifty boats, dug-outs, 
bateaux and small canoes, paddled by hand, were engaged in 
the diving business. They splashed and splurged and 
rowed and pushed, on each side of the steamer, yelling and 
shrieking in high soprano tones. The divers pleaded and 
cried to the point of pushing and fighting each other until 
the sight of their black bodies, covered with the scantiest 
tights, became no longer an attraction. 









■ J, 




'i 


^^s^^ 


J 



NATIVE DIVERS. 



The electrical machinery of the ship was now employed. 
in lowering from the davits the launches and yawls which 
were to take us ashore. It was a quick run into the stone 
dock of the quaint town of Charlotte-Amelia, capital of the 
island, and the landing was amidst a quiet throng of Sunday 
sightseers. Six days before we had left New York. We 
were now 1,430 miles away, and black faces preponderated. 
No peaceful Sunday morning in any suburb of our great 
American cities could have been more restful than was this 
day in the city of Charlotte-Amelia. The people were 



24 WITH spe;aker cannon through the tropics. 

dressed in their Sunday best, and it was gaudy enough. 
Duck trousers and white shoes were worn by the negro men, 
the women were dressed neatly, but adorned in all the colors 
of the rainbow, with ribbons and sashes and hats that would 
have done credit to any American Easter-day parade. The 
women, too, were strong and stately. They were evidently as 
hard workers as the men. On week days they swept the streets 
and carried the coal in baskets to the ships. They worked 
upon the plantations and they did the washing in the way 
we found to be typical of the West Indies, along the streams 
where rocks can be used for rubbing, and bushes for hang- 
ing the clothes out to dry. 

The parishioners of the Roman Catholic churches were 
attending worship this morning; the Lutheran Church, a 
stately old structure, was open, and from the Memorial 
Church were heard the familiar tunes of "Old Hundred" and 
''Nearer, My God, to Thee." A few hackmen were brought 
into service by the visitors, and it seemed a shame to put the 
weight of some of the party against the strength of the: 
remarkably small horses, but we soon found that St. 
Thomas had police regulations, and that one of them pro- 
hibited the carrying of more than a certain number of pas- 
sengers in any one conveyance. There was but one good 
driving street and that ran parallel to the harbor. The other 
streets were hillside climbs. At the Cable Office, whither 
the Speaker desired to go for information from home, the 
first real courtesy was extended the Congressional party. 
Mr. Morrell, the General Manager of the West India and 
Panama Telegraph Company, Ltd., had word of the 
Speaker's coming, and immediately sought him out, inviting 
him and the entire party to his home upon the hillside. 
Accepting the invitation, the party climbed the ancient stone 
steps of the several roadways leading to the ridge in the 



the: run to ST. THOMAS. 25 

mountain side, upon which the Morrell house stood. Thence 
they were conducted into a home, the coziness of which 
was its sahent feature. It was the typical gentleman's 
house of the West Indies, built upon stone piers, with heavy 
stone walls and battlements, shaded by luxuriant tropical 
trees and with flowers in bloom in the garden sufficient to 
arouse the envy of the horticulturist at home. 

We were treated to the stories of the island and to a more 
refreshing compound, a West Indian punch, brewed with 
sticks deftly twisted in a bowl by the colored maids of the 
household. Mr. A/[orrell told the Speaker he had been ad- 
vised of his coming and on behalf of the British Company 
wished to extend to him and the McKinley party every 
courtesy the company might show at any point of their 
travels. 

After leaving Morrell's we made a tour of the town, and 
finding some of the stores open, started in to make purchases. 
It was no place, we were told, to buy Panama hats, and yet 
some of the passengers, under stress of the weather, which 
was becoming intensely hot, paid as high as $40 each for 
so-called Panamas. Tawney, weary of his heavy clothing, 
purchased a complete outfit and later appeared in pure 
white, much to the surprise and envy of his colleagues. 

The city was not without its peddlers, all black, wdio 
offered seashells, tropical plants, cocoanuts and other indig- 
enous products. We found everywhere the bay-leaf, from 
which on this island is extracted the bay-rum so familiar to 
the whiskered gentry of the United States. The leaves 
which go into the manufacture of Angostura Bitters (like- 
wise familiar to a large proportion of our male population) 
were also brought to our attention, although the process of 
manufacture is a secret. 

A picturesque Dutch fort interested some of us greatly. 
It had long since been converted into a jail and was 



26 WITH spi;ake:r cannon through thj: tropics. 

under the guard of black officers. I discovered one of 
these seated upon the stone steps reading a newspaper, and, 
approaching him, found that he spoke English freely and 
was very glad of the opportunity to show me through the 
building. There were few prisoners and some of them were 
loose, cleaning up the walls and steps, all of which were in 
first-class condition. I climbed to the battlements of the 
prison and found the outlook over the harbor one of ex- 
treme scenic beauty. It was explained that the harbor had 
once been so thoroughly land-locked that the filth and sew- 
age of the town, being dumped into it, remained there and 
thus induced malarial and yellow fever. The Danish Gov- 
ernment, therefore, had recently made an island of one of 
the peninsular arms of the harbor by cutting a sluiceway 
through, from the harbor to the sea, permitting the tide to 
come and go, thus keeping the harbor free from debris. 
Walking through the main street, I chatted with some of 
the Danish soldiers, really police officers under the direction 
of the local government, and particularly with many of the 
negroes, who spoke English. From one woman, who told 
me she spoke French and Spanish, as well as English, I 
purchased a cheap necklace of coral for fifty cents, on 
which she said she had been working for two weeks. The 
pay for labor in this place is not more than twenty-five or 
thirty cents a day. The negro women coal the ships for a 
cent a basket. They carry the baskets on their heads from 
the wharf to the hold of the vessel. The people are hoping 
for better things and are really regretful that the contem- 
plated alliance was not made with the United States. 

Before our return to the ship some one commented upon 
the fact that we had not seen an American consul. I had 
taken a carriage and was returning to the wharf through the 
main street, when Eversman called my attention to an 
American flag floating from the window of a typical St. 



the; run to ST. THOMAS. 27 

Thomas residence far down the road. Mr. McKinley and 
Senator Curtis joining us, we decided to make a call. It was 
our first experience in consular matters and we were not 
a little surprised to find our Government represented by a 
black man. He was polite and evidently a man of intelli- 
gence. Photographs of Senators Scott and Elkins, of West 
Virginia, which rested on his desk, served to locate the state 
from which he hailed. His home was cosily arranged and 
he, personally, was decked out in white. When we called 
his attention to the arrival of the American party, there was 
just a little evidence of concern as to the proper course for 
him to pursue. It had evidently been a question of doubt 
in his mind whether he should call upon the Speaker or 
await the Speaker's call. Apparently he had decided upon 
the latter course, as he had arranged a brew of local punch, 
in anticipation of visitors. We sampled his punch and found 
it good. The Consul subsequently visited the ship and pre- 
sented himself to the Speaker. 

As our stay in St. Thomas lasted but six hours, we were 
unable to accept courtesies on the part of the members of the 
island Parliament, which we were advised at the wharf, 
awaited the Speaker's party. 

"Charming place," was the general comment as we pulled 
away from the island, ''but not for a permanent residence." 

We compared notes that afternoon and found the ''post- 
card," descriptive of views of the island, had been the popular 
purchase. The quaint post-office, approached through 
ancient stone arches and time-worn steps, had been a much- 
frequented place during our visit, and as the Danish clerk 
spoke English, it was all th-^ more agreeable. The "post 
card" thereafter was the first thino- sought, because it told 
the story so clearly and quickly. 

"I don't write letters any more," sale the lazy passenger, 
"post cards do the work." 



CHAPTER II. 

PORTO RICO. 

The Porto Rican Commissioner — Passing Sail Rock — Theories of 
Sunken Lands — Larrinaga's Appeal for Citizenship — Are the 
Natives Ready? — A Glorious Approach — San Juan's History and 
Vicissitudes — The American Invasion — A Spoiled War Picture — 
Sacrifice of American Youth — "Swirl of the Shades" on the 
Plaza — Old Friends Come Forward — Speaker Saluted from the 
Morro — Progress Behind the Fortifications — Small Shops and 
Their Customers — The Famous Military Road — A Populous Thor- 
oughfare — The Tale of the Twigs — American Capital Doing 
Things — Towns Where the President Spoke — Porto Rico a 
White Man's Country — Public Schools vs. Peon Stations — The 
Speaker on Citizenship — Birds, Snakes and the Mongoose — 
Session of the Legislature — A Fiery Welcome in Spanish — The 
Speaker's Reply — Olcott and the "High Life" — The Governor's 
Gorgeous Palace — Exchanged for "Home, Sweet Home" — 
Increase of Exports — Secretary Taft on Altruism — The Cake and 
the Penny, Too. 

That Tiilio Larrinaga, Resident Commissioner of Porto 
Rico, had no vote in the Congress of the United States, 
grated a little on his native pride, but did not prevent his 
being a very companionable neighbor. My seat in the House 
was next his, so that our conversation often drifted to the 
affairs of the island. He had been educated as a civil en- 
gineer at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and 
was rather proud of it, so that I listened with a degree of 
patience to his friendly admonition that Porto Ricans freed 
from Spanish domination were now ''subjects" of the United 
States. Moreover, he had been the friend in Porto Rico, 
under the McKinley administration, of our scholarly Penn- 

28 



the: ISIyAND O:^ PORTO RICO. 3 1 

sylvanian, Martin G. Brumbaugh, the first Commissioner of 
Public Instruction on the American plan in Porto Rico. 

As we cut through the deep water that separated islands 
and rocks on the 72 mile course from St. Thomas to San 
Juan, commenting on the lack of verdure and absence of 
habitation, I began to think up Porto Rico and wonder what 
we would find on our arrival there. A short distance out- 
side of St. Thomas we had noticed what seemed to be the 
huge white sails of a full-rigged ship. Then again it re- 
sembled an armored cruiser, painted white. As we drew 
near we observed thousands of seagulls flying about it like 
so many buzzards above some great carcass of the sea. Was 
it a mighty berg cut loose from its Arctic moorings and gone 
adrift in these tropical waters ? We examined the chart and 
found the huge clifif now towering above us designated ''Sail 
Rock." The resemblance justified the title. What freak 
of nature reared this silent monument of stone out of the 
waters ? Was it the topmost peak of a barren mountain 
range long ago submerged? Or was it of volcanic origin, 
as many of the bare cliffs and rocks on the way from St. 
Thomas had undoubtedly been? 

''Oh," said the wise passenger, "that's easy. The whole 
Caribbean sea is merely the overflow of the Atlantic over 
the lowlands that once connected the North and South Amer- 
ican continents. All the rocks and islands of the West 
Indies are the tops of the mountains. We are sailing over 
the valleys." 

"And Porto Rico, too?" I ventured to inquire. 

"Yes, and Cuba and the Bahamas and the whole business. 
They are naturally a part of the United States and ought to 
be under our control." 

We were now in water deep enough physically — and politi- 
cally — for me to withdraw, and I did. "Sail Rock" had dis- 



32 WITH spi:ake;r cannon through the: tropics. 

appeared and the wise passenger had moved along the deck. 
My thoughts returned to Larrinaga. I recalled the night 1 
had induced him to visit Philadelphia to attend a festive re- 
union of the Five O'clock Club. He entered heartily into 
the spirit of the dinner, but when the time for speaking came 
his love of Porto Rico got the best of his discretion. For 
twenty minutes he begged the members for citizenship. 
Dr. Brumbaugh sat near him and watched the effect, with 
evident concern. 

"Politically we are but vassals," exclaimed the Commis- 
sioner, "will you give us citizenship ?" 

"Not to-night, Senor,'' came the unexpected reply. "Don't 
settle it to-night." 

In a moment my friend remembered he was speaking to 
good fellows and became less serious. He branched off to 
the history of Porto Rico — what it was ; what it hoped to be ; 
when Columbus landed there in 1493 the. Indians played a 
game of ball. The ancient natives were also ball-players ; 
in this they resembled their brethren of the United States. 
Their modern game is something of a cross between cricket 
and baseball. 

"Do they ever try high balls ?" broke in the irrepressible 
Five O'clocker, James Pollock. 

"Yes," said Larrinaga, pleased at the interruption, "we do 
more than that," and he spoke of the sunny side of the Porto 
Rican character. 

Larrinaga's appeal for citizenship, however, set me think- 
ing. President Roosevelt had recently visited Porto Rico 
and had marveled at the progress made b}^ Porto Ricans 
under American supervision. I had listened to the reading 
of his message to Congress recommending full and com- 
plete citizenship for the people of the island. Were they 
prepared for it? The whole population of the island is only 



the: island of porto rico. 33 

two-thirds that of the smgle American city of Philadelphia. 
Prior to the American occupation, which began only in 
1898, there had been slavery, peonage and milder forms of 
Spanish subjugation. Had the masses of the people pro- 
gressed enough in nine years — ^had they acquired sufficient 
intelligence and public spirit — to stand equal with the voters 
of Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Chicago, Baltimore, or 
New Orleans, in determining who should govern our coun- 
try and who be elected President of the United States ? It 
had been only a few years ago, and since the American occu- 
pation, that a hurricane swept the island. We had shown a 
paternal interest in the natives then. As secretary of a 
Philadelphia committee, I helped to raise funds and pro- 
visions for two ship-loads of supplies sent to the relief of ''the 
wards of the nation," as the Porto Ricans were then re- 
garded. Other cities responded nobly to the national call 
for relief, and moreover we had established a free govern- 
ment on the island at the expense of the nation, and only 
at the last session of Congress, my friend Larrinaga had 
secured an appropriation of $700,000 for deepening the chan- 
nel of San Juan Harbor alone. 

I could not bring to mind any disposition on the part of 
the United States Government or people to be inconsiderate 
of Porto Rico. The natives were deriving the benefits of 
American methods, and American school teachers were in- 
structing the young; but the majority of the people still 
spoke Spanish, most of them were living in palm-leaf shacks 
and were unaccustomed to the responsibilities of citizenship 
and of property rights. To be sure, there were rich and cul- 
tured people in Porto Rico ; some, like my friend Larrinaga, 
as sincere and patriotic as the founders of the United States, 
but there were also schemers who found the play of "liberty" 
an easier game than honest toil. The screeching demagogue 

3 



34 WITH spe:ake;r cannon through the tropics. 

had no desire to drop the penny the United States had put 
into the island, but lie did so much desire, along with the 
cake he already possessed, to be the dispenser of the penny ! 

But now we were about to see for ourselves. Our ap- 
proach to Porto Rico was a glorious afternoon's voyage. 
Guide books were out a-plenty and the history of the island 
was eagerly scanned. It was the first opportunity for many 
of us to observe the trend of American colonial policy. Of 
course, we heard of Columbus — we were to hear of this 
wonderful navigator ''many a time and oft" before we re- 
turned to New York — how he approached the island from 
San Domingo, took possession in the name of the reigning 
sovereign of Spain and named it San Juan Bautista, in 
honor of St. John the Baptist ; and how the famous searcher 
after eternal youth, Ponce de Leon, had been sent by the 
Governor of San Domingo to hunt for gold in Porto Rico in 
1508. The English freebooter Drake sacked San Juan in 
1595. He pillaged and robbed to his heart's content, but his 
departure hastened the completion of Morro Castle, the re- 
markable fortification which the Spaniards had commenced 
a few years before. 

In 1597 the English, under Admiral George Gifford, Earl 
of Cumberland, again captured San Juan and took possession 
of the island temporarily. A Dutch fleet attempted to take 
it in 1625, but Morro Castle was then in good working order, 
and, after a siege of twenty-eight days, the enemy was forced 
to depart. In 1626 a French fleet tried to take possession, 
but was repulsed. Lord Abercrombie made an attempt to 
sack the Castle in 1797, but the Spaniards held their ground, 
without molestation, from that time on until May 12, 1898, 
when Rear Admiral William T. Sampson, of the United 
States Navy, began a three-hour bombardment of the fortifi- 
cations guarding San Juan harbor. The American admiral 



THE ISIvAND OF PORTO RICO. 35 

sought to ascertain if the Spanish fleet was hiding in the 
harbor, and, not desiring to do unnecessary damage in the 
city, stopped the bombardment when satisfied that Cervera's 
ships were not there. 

The American army landed in the Bay of Juanica, July 21, 
1898, under command of Major General Nelson A. Miles, 
and on July 2J, the Americans occupied Ponce. I remem- 
bered with some satisfaction that a Philadelphia command — 
the First City Troop — had taken part in the conquest of the 
island and that Major General John R. Brooke, a Penn- 
sylvanian, now living in one of the suburbs of Philadelphia, 
had been appointed military governor, October 18, 1898. 

There came to me also a humorous story recoimted by a 
returned war correspondent who had expected to see fight- 
ing in Porto Rico. His disappointment was keen, but surely 
no more than that of his heroes. We have heard of the 
English soldier whose definition of glory is being killed in 
battle and "having your name misspelled in The Gazette." 
In these modern days of the kodak and the moving picture 
machine, how much more poignant must be the loss of glory 
when all "the fixins' " are tuned up to High C. "The Shat- 
tering of a War Picture," perhaps, would best epitomize the 
correspondent's tale. He placed the scene at Aibonito. The 
Spaniards had entrenched themselves in a jungle-like 
stronghold. The Americans were preparing to storm them 
out of it. The scenic environment was superb. Towering 
crags and peaks looked down on the prospective field of 
battle. In the foregrounds, palms and flowers and feathery 
ferns presented nature's smile to the grim visage of war. 
Opportunities for heroic charges and stirring climaxes do 
not often fall to the lot of the soldier. The victory was to 
be swift and glorious — and picturesque. Nor were the 
correspondents overlooked — and here is the cruel crux of the 
story — for notice was given to be ready with pad and pencil. 



3^ WITH SI'iCAKIvK C^ANNON TIIKOIK;!! TI I IC TKC )I'I CS. 

And now for llu- niclic in llic llall oi" l<\'inK'! 'J'lie com- 
inandinjL;' officer on a prancini;" l)ay was caracoling' at the 
head of tlic troops. 

"Arc yon ready liere? Are yon ready lliere? Now — " 

It remained for tlie commander to (h"aw his sword and 
the lieroic ])iclnre was complete. 

\Mv have seen the hreathless com-ier wave the King's re- 
])rieve heneath the noses of the villains who are ahont to 
lian.L;' the hero in the melodrama, lie always comes at the 
fatal moment when slow mnsic ])resages a cataclysm, and 
so it was at Aihonito. 'I'he connnander's hand was on the 
hilt of his sword, hnl the word "charge" was never nltered. 
'i'he failhfnl com-ier in real life was at his work, lie car- 
ried Ihe jx'ace protocol and with it the declaration that the 
v'>])aniar(ls had <leci(k'(l to make no resistance. 

I narrate this incident with no disrespect to tlie splendid 
American cili/.ens who gloi'ied in the sacrifices lliey were 
willing to make foi' their conntry, for a distingnished jndgc 
of (he C'ommon Heas Conrts of I Miila(k'lphia who enlisted 
and S(M-ved m Toilo Kico with the- City Troo]), throngh 
dis(\ases contracted thert\ has keen rokked of the nse of his 
limks thest' fnll nine \'ears ; the correspondent, who told me 
the story and who gave me tlie seal of an alcalde of Ponce, 
has nev(.'r recovered from a malignant I'orto Kican fever, 
while i'do\'(l C\'nni)l)ell, a nevvs])a])er artist (d' the same expedi- 
tion, whost' cartoon of "ySpeaker Cannon v^moking at a 
Clover Clnh I )inner" is owv of the endnring cartoons of this 
generation, is dead. All honor to the hrave young Ameri- 
cans, from whatsoevcM- v^tate they came, who helped to raise 
thc^ v^lai's and v^tripes in this fair island of the West Indies 
and hy a concpiest glorions hecanse it was hloodless, carried 
the message of civilization and advancement to a down- 
trodden p(.-o[)le ! 



Til Iv ISLAND Ol' I'ONTO \i\C{). 37 

( )iir r;i])l;iiii feared we mi,L;lil he nnahle lo eiiler S.'in jnaii 
harbor before dark, bill, by earefiilly feeliiiL;' bis way over 
the shoal plaees where Ihe "Louisiana" sliiek wilh ihc 
President on board, he sneeeede(L To say we vverc> favor- 
al)ly impressed with Ihe Ix-anly of (be harl)()r, (be iniposinj^- 
areliiteclni'e of Ihe aneieiil eily and Ihe exieiil of sbippin}^", 
is lo pnl il niibhy. We wei'e a,i;icH'al)Iy snr|)i"ise(b 'Hie 
basin was lilled willi sliips, mostly Anierjean vessels, some 
l)eloni;inj4' to sleainship lines that were eoinpai'atively new. 
The wliole water- front, in fael, presented an air of pi'os])erity 
and life that was nnexpeeted — es])eeially as il was v^nnday. 

We were met at the pier by Andilor Ward, a New Yorker, 
and one or Iwo minor offieials, and a lillle later, Ciovernor 
I'eekman Wiiilhrop, a r>osloniaii, and Mr. (jrahanie, of New 
York, Seerelary of the Interior, came aloii.i;'. They look ns 
over the eily, lirst of all j^oitiL;' lo the I'la/.a I'rineipal, an open 
Spaee about half the si/i' of Independenee J^qnare, wheic il 
seemed the c-ntire popnlation of San Jnaii had assembled. 

The IVInnieipal liand was playini;' "'i'he Star v^pan^led l*>an- 
iier" and in the tropical breezes overhead, standinj^ out with 
wonderfnl brillianee in Ihe first bhish of twdiL;hl, was the 
Ameriean \]:v^. It thrilled ns all, bnl though there was a 
luni]) in my own throat, I eonld not help smilini;' at llu; 
elTeet upon Tawney. 

Mis eif^ar look on a jauntier attitude. I lis hat seemed of 
its own aeeord to slide a little to one side. I lis elbows stuck 
oul and his shoulders wai;i;e(l as he walked. Without 
ulteriuj.;" a word, the IVIinnesolau was sayini;' as plainly as a 
man could : 

"I'm Tawney fiom America. Who are you?" 

The ])iclm-e in that IMaza reminded iiu: of l)anlc;'s **vSwirl 
of the Shades," exce])t that it was in a happier vein. Ilun- 
dreds u|)on hundreds of youni;" men and women, old men 



38 WITH spe:ake:r cannon through th:e: tropics. 

and women, and children, kept walking round and round in 
one ceaseless whirl of humanity. Bright colors are affected 
by the Porto Rican women, and when there is a crowd of 
them together on the move, the ensemble is startling. 

The Plaza was a resting place, a trysting place, a place to 
exercise, a place to get air, a place to read, a place to smoke, 
a place to chat, a place to flirt. When a man's sweetheart 
got tired of the human whirlpool, he would rent a chair for 
her at the rate of five cents an hour and let her look on 
until she was sufliciently rested to take part again. 

"If you want to see anybody in San Juan on a Sunday 
afternoon, Mr. Speaker," said Governor Winthrop, laugh- 
ing, "all you have to do is to take a chair on the Plaza and 
wait until he comes along." 

Our escorts led us through the narrow but well-paved 
streets with their contracted sidewalks, giving us an oppor- 
tunity to see how Porto Ricans within the city limits lived. 
Many of the shops were open, so that purchases — the inesti- 
mable post card being the first consideration — might be 
made. Spanish was spoken everywhere, but the signs out- 
side the shops were chiefly American — the American beer 
sign being conspicuous as usual — and American money was 
in general use. We found, in the course of our peregrina- 
tions, Americans from all parts of the country — or rather, 
they found us, and gladly made themselves known to the 
Speaker and party. Indiana men, for instance, had taken 
up orange culture on the island and were expecting to make 
a big thing of it. New York money was going into the 
trolleys and we rode on one to the Country Club outside of 
the fortified walls of San Juan, accompanied among others 
by a young attorney from New York who was adjusting 
questions of title and right of way. 

The first detachment to visit the Post Oflice brought back 




COLON PLAZA AND CASTLE CHRISTOBAL, SAN JUAN. 



THE ISIvAND 01? PORTO RICO. 41 

the news that the Postmaster was a Landis from Indiana, 
brother of the two Congressmen, Charles B. and Frederick, 
and of Kenesaw M. Landis, the Federal Judge in Chicago, 
who was later to impose a $29,000,000 fine upon the Stand- 
ard Oil Company. 

''Charley's coming down soon, too," said the Postmaster, 
after he caught up to the party. 

"Sorry we can't wait, but give him our love," said Sher- 
man. 

"And here's Rodey !" exclaimed the Speaker, as the United 
States Federal Judge of Porto Rico pushed forward to pay 
his respects. "You're for citizenship, I suppose?" 

As delegate to Congress from New Mexico, no one had 
fought harder or more persistently for Statehood than B. S. 
Rodey. Defeated for re-election by the redoubtable "Bull" 
Andrews, formerly of Pennsylvania, Rodey had been made 
a Judge by President Roosevelt. And all our information 
tended to show he was "making good." 

"You wouldn't have asked me that while I was in Wash- 
ington," responded the judge. 

After an informal reception at the Country Club, where 
among others we met Mr. Faulkner, of the University of 
Pennsylvania, who succeeded Dr. Brumbaugh at the head 
of the Department of Public Instruction, we returned bj 
trolley to the wharf. 

Early Monday morning, while some of us were sampling- 
American goods, which we found in profusion in San 
Juan stores, Speaker Cannon, accompanied by McKinley, 
Sherman and Tawney, formally returned the Governor's 
call. They were met at the Castle, where the Governor 
lived in the splendor of an Eastern Prince, and were escorted 
to the Morro, where a regiment of native Porto Ricans, 
equipped and maintained by appropriation of Congress, was 



42 



WITH SPEAKER CANNON THROUGH THE: TROPICS. 



drawn up to receive them. Seventeen guns from the ram- 
parts of the historic fortification were fired in honor of the 
Speaker. Following the salute, the regiment was put through 
a drill. The Speaker expressed his appreciation of the com- 
pliment and then the whole Congressional party assembled 
for an automobile ride over the famous military road which 
bisects the island from San Juan on the north to Ponce on 
the south, a distance of about eighty miles. 




GOVERNOR S PALACE^ SAN JUAN. 



It was a ride to be remembered, for going out I had as 
companions x^Iann and Judge Rodey, whose data, history 
and anecdotes were illuminating; and, returning, Governor 
Winthrop and ]\Ir. Cannon, I was able to again observe 
the Speaker's grasp on colonial affairs and to size up the 
policies of the colonial officer. Our chaft'eurs were Spanish, 
but the machines were of American make, and as they flew 
like the wind, over the road which had engaged the atten- 
tion of the Spanish constructors for half a century, they 
revealed a marvel of the roadbuilder's art in a country teem- 



THE ISLAND Q-^ PORTO RICO. 43 

ing with the picturesque in mountain and valley. The train 
of a steam railroad was making its way into San Juan as we 
dashed out of the city, giving us to understand that sugar 
and tobacco plantations were sending their product to mar- 
ket and doing it in the modern way. It was a contrast, for 
we could see, as we passed by the Columbus statue, the 
old fortifications and the huge barriers of wall and water 
that protected the city from attack by land — that San Juan 
had dealt deliberately with the interior of the country, hold- 
ing it as a feeder in times of peace and barring it rudely in 
times of stress. Grim San Cristobal frowned upon us nigh 
to where the Government had established a wireless tele- 
graph station on the edge of the city — but it also looked 
down upon hundreds of happy, though half -dressed, young- 
sters, who now in complete security against invasion or 
oppression, played their innocent games of ball. Once out on 
the military road we were enabled to observe the rural life 
of the island. On every hand shops and small stores 
abounded. Every shack or shed big enough to shelter a 
couple of people standing, a bunch of bananas, a few cocoa- 
nuts and a few bottles of soft drinks, answered for a store. 
Some of them went further and set out flapjacks and candy 
cakes. Here and there a cobbler, or tinker, held sway, but 
the merchandise shopkeeper was far and away in the ascend- 
ency. Along the whole journey, extending upwards of fifty 
miles, he was omnipresent — and his customers — hatless, 
shoeless, sullen — trudged along, walking, astride the native 
donkey, punching the ox-teams, or sprawling above the loads 
of tobacco, coffee or sugar that were lumbering to town. 
On no country road within my knowledge, except perhaps on 
holiday occasions, have I seen so steady and continuous a 
flow of humanity as we witnessed along this beautiful mili- 
tary road of Porto Rico. It was a revelation in suburban 



44 WITH spe:ake:r cannon through the tropics. 

activity — a veritable human beehive. Bareheaded, bare- 
footed and with children of some of the peon families, bare- 
bodied, they came and they went in almost endless proces- 
sion. Pedestrians carried bananas and bags of cofifee on 
their heads, the diminutive horses drew vehicles of odd con- 
struction, the faithful donkeys bore their loaded baskets 
and sometimes, over all, the driver and sections of the 
family. The ox-teams — yoked with bars of wood like rail- 
road ties, to prevent them doing injury to pedestrians or to 
each other — jogged along with heavy wagon loads of 
sugar-cane, tobacco or coffee, or bundles of fagots, for the 
small branches of trees in Porto Rico are highly prized, and 
charcoal is a valued commodity. 

On one of the hillsides I noticed a number of men cutting 
fagots with their machettes — all the males seemed to carry 
machettes — and rolling them into bundles. The sticks were 
so small as to seem worthless for firewood, and I commented 
upon it. 

"You don't understand their value here," was the reply. 
''And thereby hangs a tale." 

"Then out with the tale," I said. 

"But you must keep it from the Secretary of the Interior. 
He has not gotten over it yet !" 

We were crossing a great bridge, which served also as a re- 
taining wall at the bend of the road, and were coming out in 
an avenue of stately trees, the branches of which could easily 
have embowered us overhead. The hot sun struck us full 
in the face as my informant exclaimed : 

"That's it ; there's the tale ! Before the President reached 
the island last November, the trees along this road were its 
crowning glory. In many places they covered the road for 
long stretches, completely shutting out the sun. The Presi- 
dent's coming was heralded long enough in advance for the 



the: island of PORTO RICO. 45 

local officials to do a little house-cleaning. It had been ar- 
ranged that the President should be taken over the road in 
an automobile. 

"Anxious to have the road at its best, the department sent 
a force under a native foreman to trim the trees and remove 
the rubbish. The foreman was a rogue or he misunderstood 
his instructions, we have never been able to determine which, 
but he cut away the splendid arching boughs, 'so that,' he 
afterwards explained, 'the President could see the sky.' 

"From miles arovuid the people came to get the fagots, 
until finally the department got wind of the havoc that was 
being wrought and stopped it." 

"They didn't tell the President," I ventured. 

"You bet they didn't — and he said the road was in fine 
condition." 

Mountains and valleys and rivers and everywhere the 
richest kind of tropical vegetation passed in review, induc- 
ing some of the globe trotters of the party to remark a strong 
resemblance to Switzerland. 

"What's that ?" asked the Speaker, pointing to a low road- 
side building with a section number. 

"One of the old peon stations," replied the Governor. 
"This road was built with peon labor, and you will notice 
as we go along that most of the stations are still standing." 

On all sides were evidences of large investm-ent of capital. 
New confidence, born of American suzerainty, had induced 
the transportation of much machinery and lumber for build- 
ing purposes. 

One of the largest concerns on the island is the American 
Tobacco Company, and the difference between its plantations 
and the smaller ones, owned and operated by individuals, was 
as the difference between the government inspected reserva- 
tion and the tumble-down farm. Both in employment offered 



46 WITH sp^ake:r cannon through the: tropics. 

to the workers, and in business results obtained, the superi- 
ority of the larger establishments was manifest. The work- 
ers in the fields showed it and so did the crops. 

Tobacco, sugar-cane and coffee were the principal pro- 
ducts we saw while passing along the military road. The 
care in cultivation was noticeable. I saw one field of more 
than 100 acres in tobacco, every inch of which was covered 
with fine, white gauze, to protect the plants from wind and 
insects. These vast fields are irrigated with all the care of 
a horticultural garden and at very great expense. They rep- 
resent the large American operator. The native farmer 
lives in a wretched hut of palm-tree bark, built on stakes, 
and subsists on the products of the meager clearing about 
him. 

We were informed there had been considerable confusion 
in the coffee market after the Spanish-American war. In 
her own time, Spain had taken the entire output of the 
island, but when Porto Rico passed into the hands of the 
Americans, the Spaniards refused to drink Porto Rico coffee, 
although the fashionable folk of Madrid considered it the 
best coffee in the world. It has a pungent taste and Ameri- 
cans generally have not yet learned to prefer it to Mocha 
and Java. The coffee question, we were told, was one of 
the real problems confronting the producers of Porto Rico 
and would doubtless be brought to the attention of Congress. 

We had covered fifty miles of the road when, heat and 
dust becoming oppressive, it was decided to turn back. Some 
of us were becoming a bit hungry and a few of us, Mann 
included, fell heavily upon the provender in the lunch basket 
of Auditor Ward's New York car. W^e had passed through 
the cigar-making towns of Caguas and Cayey and had run 
up to Aibonito. The houses in these towns were substan- 
tially built, being frame, adobe and stone — most of them low 



the: island 01^ PORTO RICO. 47 

and square, with cheap porches. In both "Caguas and Cayey 
President Roosevelt had spoken to the people. The audi- 
ences were large, for the natives live in the open and are 
easily brought together. Our automobiles had scarcely ar- 
rived before they were surrounded by a motley crowd of 
squalid-looking men, women and children. Some of their 
expressions in Spanish did not sound altogether friendly, 
but they may have been. A detachment of native troops 
was stationed nearby one of the towns and their natty ap- 
pearance impressed us. They looked to be much superior to 
the unkempt natives. I inquired about the serviceability of 
the native soldier and the Governor said they were brave, 
honest and faithful. They were all right, he said, when they 
had a leader in whom they had confidence — if they trusted 
their leader they would follow him anywhere. Their recog- 
nition by the United States Government had been a splendid 
thing in winning them over to the side of law and order. 
Their weakness was in overestimating their authority 
amongst the other natives, but the latter generally looked up 
to them. They were assisting materially in promoting "the 
American idea" amongst the islanders. 

The preponderance of white people noticed in San Juan 
and in the towns and settlements along the military road, in 
this, a supposedly "black man's country," invited comment. 
We had pointed out to us the mixed breeds, Spaniard and 
Indian, Indian and negro, white and black, and white and 
half-breed, but we were coolly informed that white was the 
prevailing color to-day, regardless of all "the hand-me- 
downs." Statistics, some of which were brought along and 
some of which I assembled on returning to the United 
States, sustain this view. Out of a population of 953,243 
(it now exceeds a million), as shown by the census of 1899, 
for instance, 489,426 were white and 363,817 colored, the 



48 



WITH SPEAKEIR CANNON THROUGH THE TROPICS. 



latter classification including the few Chinese on the island 
and persons of mixed white and negro blood. These figures 
by comparison with other islands of the West Indies become 
extremely interesting. In the census of 189 1, the percent- 
age of white residents in Jamaica was only 2.3 per cent. 
In the Leeward Islands, the same year, it was 4 per cent. ; 
in the Barbados, 8.6 per cent. ; in the Bahamas, 25.3 per 




NATIVE FUNERAL, SAN JUAN. 



cent. In Porto Rico, seven years later, the percentage of 
white people on the island was 61.8. Cuba at the same 
time had a percentage of 66.9 white. 

The census taken in the United States in 1899 shows that 
Porto Rico is not so much of a "negro country" as many of 
the Southern states. Over against Porto Rico's white popu- 
lation of 61.8 per cent., South Carolina shows only 40.1 per 
cent, white ; Mississippi, 42.3 per cent, white ; Louisiana, 49.9 ; 



the; island 01? PORTO RICO. 49 

Georgia, 53.3; Alabama, 55.1 ; Florida, 57.5, and aristocratic 
Virginia only 61.6 per cent., or 2-10 of one per cent, less than 
Porto Rico's proportion of whites. 

There is, however, a very large percentage of illiteracy, 
which is being attacked in the most scientific way by the 
corps of teachers and instructors the Government at Wash- 
ington has provided. 

It was shown in the census of 1887 that out of a total 
population of 806,708, 695,328 were unable to read; 14,513 
could read, but not write, and only 96,867 could read and 
write. The proportion of illiteracy among the males and 
•females was about the same. 

A census of the island now would show no such over- 
whelming preponderance of ignorance. Everywhere we 
went we saw school-houses, crowded with pupils. I remem- 
ber a ''Benjamin Harrison School" and a ''Benjamin Frank- 
lin School." There were many others named for American 
statesmen. They looked homelike and over all of them 
floated the American flag. 

"As good as anything we have," said Sherman, comment- 
ing on one of the larger schools. 

"Almost," qualified Tawney. 

In talking with the Speaker about the form of govern- 
ment in Porto Rico, 1 found him well pleased with it. He 
had evidently given the West Indies question much thought, 
for he quoted Froude and Kingsley and seemed to feel that 
England had enabled us to profit by her experience. He 
regarded the Foraker Act of 1900 — the organic law of the 
island — as exceedingly helpful to the people. This act cre- 
ated a Governor, Secretary, Attorney-General, Treasurer, 
Commissioner of the Interior, Commissioner of Education, 
Chief Justice and Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, 
United States District Judge, United States District Attor- 

4 



50 WITH SPEAKER CANNON THROUGH THE TROPICS. 

ney and United States Marshal, all to be appointed by the 
President of the United States. It provided that the law- 
making body sliould be divided into an Executive Council 
and a House of Delegates. The Council consists of the 
officers eninnerated above (except those of the courts), and 
five other members, also appointed by the President, making 
eleven all told. There are thirty-five members in the 
House of Delegates, five of whom are elected by the people 
in each of the seven political districts of the island. 

Mr. Cannon was glad to observe "how things were going 
along," and he had reason to be, for he had been in this whole 
business from the beginning. It was he who had moved 
the $50,000,000 appropriation to the McKinley administra- 
tion to rebuke the blowing up of the Maine, and it was his 
powerful aid that had been sought in all the constructive 
work since the triumph of the American forces. In his 
view the colonial question, with its new and complex prob- 
lems of expenditure, of responsibility and of citizenship, 
was not to be treated hastily. 

But the Speaker was getting much pleasure out of our 
trip and lunch time had arrived. A special automobile, 
loaded down with as fine a lunch as New York could 
have afforded, met us by the side of a mountain 
stream overlooking a valley of great beauty about forty 
miles out from San Juan. We stopped — and so did some of 
the natives. A clever boy, who spoke no English, but who, 
by signs and proffers of good things, was induced to con- 
tribute a diminutive pack-saddle donkey for cross-country 
runs by the Chairman of the Pension Committee and his 
Western rival, the Chairman of the Appropriations Com- 
mittee, carried away most of the leavings. The* Governor 
meanwhile was observed industriously gathering the bits of 
paper and empty boxes in which the luncheon had been 



THK ISLAND 01^ PORTO RICO. 5 1 

wrapped. He raked them to a remote spot, and, striking a 
match, set fire to them, watching carefully until the flames 
were out. 

''What in the world is he doing?" said Loudenslager. 

The Governor overheard, and on his return explained: 

"Merely an object lesson to the natives. We are trying 
to teach them to keep this road free of refuse." 

"Before we start back," said McKinley, tossing the bone 
of a chicken wing far back into the bushes, "I want some- 
one to tell me something. I haven't seen more than five or 
six birds to-day. I should imagine that on an island that is 
so Eden-like in all other respects, with flowers like these 
and the richest kind of soil and vegetation, to say nothing 
of a congenial climate, birds would abound." 

"The mongoose has chased the birds away," said Judge 
Rodey. "Before that little snake killer was imported, there 
were birds a-plenty ; also snakes a-plenty. 

"The mongoose did the work. It is said there is not a 
snake in all Porto Rico, and if there is, I have never seen 
one." 

For once, Mann, who had been objecting now and then 
along the journey to some of Rodey's illustrations, agreed 
with him. 

"But what about the white rats of Porto Rico?" he said. 

"You've got me there!" answered the Judge. 

"Well, listen," put in the Objector. "The kind of rats I 
refer to are very uncommon, and, after generations of pur- 
suit by their invincible enemy, the mongoose, they have de- 
veloped strange characteristics. You may not believe it, be- 
cause you're from New Mexico, but you have rats here in 
Porto Rico that live in trees like squirrels. They are un- 
questionably descendants of aboriginal rodents, but they are 
larger and they are white." 



52 WITH sp:e:ake:r cannon through thi: tropics. 

This story spurred Tawney on to a eulogy of the Western 
prairie-dog, and, in self-defense, we climbed back into the 
automobiles. 

When we got into San Juan again the Legislature was 
assembled. It was the last day of the session. They had 
been expecting us, and Secretary Regis H. Post, a New 
Yorker, presiding officer of the Executive Council, received 
us most courteously. Several members of the Executive 
Council were colored men. One of them seemed very much 
interested in Alann, and told him he had read every one of 
his speeches in the Congressional Record. 

At this Sherman gasped, and grasping the colored mem- 
ber warmly by the hand, exclaimed : 

"Allow me to express my pleasure upon meeting the 
busiest man in Porto Rico." 

A committee of the Executive Council escorted the 
Speaker and party into the House of Delegates. The 
president of that body, a native Porto Rican of Spanish de- 
scent, consulted with his clerks and interpreters in whispers 
He was a frail little man, but had a thoughtful, poetic coun- 
tenance. Presently, when we were lined up behind the 
Speaker, he motioned to the interpreter, and began. We 
got it in sections, but as the boys in the gallery would say, 
it was ''fiery Southern patriotism, all right." The fact that 
he had to stop at the end of every sentence and wait for the 
interpreter to put his words into English, did not cool his 
ardor. The United States was the eagle; Porto Rico was 
the lamb ! The talons of the eagle had not been used in 
anger. Would they ever consume the lamb? Would the 
eagle not so nurture the lamb that it might be transformed 
into a star ? 

He recounted the trials and tribulations through whicli 
his country had passed and hailed the United States as a 



the; isIvAnd o:^ porto rico. 53 

deliverer. He complimented the President and the Speaker 
and rounded out his speech with an impassioned appeal for 
citizenship. 

Speaker Cannon, who stood hat in hand during the greet- 
ing, was gracious, but cautious, in his reply. He said he 
had passed over half the island that day and that this was 
his second visit to Porto Rico. He had talked to those in 
authority and had ascertained from them that wonderful 
progress had been made under American rule. 

"Where you made $1 under the Spanish," he said, "you 
are making $3 under the Americans. You have taken hold 
of the spirit of education and the rising generation will be 
much better equipped for the battle of life than the present 
one is. 

"You are now electing delegates to do your .bidding in 
this House, and, to that extent, you are the makers of your 
own laws and the carvers of your own destinies. 

"Yes, it all lies with you. Hitherto your advancement has 
been marvelous and I hope that it will continue. We in the 
United States are proud of you. You are keeping your 
people employed ; you are imbued with the get-ahead spirit ; 
you are building up your island and proving to the world 
that you will soon be in a position to maintain a stable gov- 
ernment. 

"I am sure you will demonstrate that Porto Rico is not 
only self-reliant, but that it is capable of holding the confi- 
dence of the people of the United States. 

"Prove to us that you know how to avoid the pitfalls into 
which San Domingo and Cuba stumbled. They, too, were 
self-reliant, but they lacked stability of purpose. After 
they had in their hands the dearest prize that man can hope 
for — independence — they were obliged to call on the United 
States for help. 



54 WITH SPEAKER CANNON THROUGH THE TROPICS. 

"Avoid those pitfalls. Be firm in your patriotism, but 
steady and sure in your government. When you have 
shown us that you can do this, when you have given the 
West Indies this object lesson, then it will be time to discuss 
the question of citizenship." 

Although it was not exactly the kind of a speech they had 
hoped for, and not so full of immediate promises as those 
President Roosevelt had made, the delegates appeared to be 
pleased with it and applauded the Speaker enthusiastically. 

Mr. Cannon then introduced the other members of our 
party, one at a time. Some of his points, I am afraid, were 
lost by the interpreter. 

In introducing the tall and stately Olcott, the Speaker re- 
marked, playfully, that he was "destined for a long life." 
As the pun was finally twisted into Spanish, it was made to 
appear that Olcott had "lived a high life." When the news 
was unfolded to Olcott he didn't appreciate it half so much 
as we did. 

That evening, the party was divided into squads and enter- 
tained at the homes of the various officials — some at the Gov- 
ernor's palace, some by Secretary Post, the incoming Gov- 
ernor, and others by Auditor Ward. After dinner we all 
assembled at a reception in the palace, which was attended 
by a number of the prominent citizens. 

The Governor of Porto Rico and his wife lived regally. 
The splendor of the old Spanish palace, now called the Ex- 
ecutive Mansion — a rare old castellated structure — was 
dazzling. As I walked from one great corridor to another 
and from one reception room to another with their tessel- 
lated floors, their beautiful wainscoting and wonderful fres- 
coes, I exclaimed to myself : 

"Is this the home of an American governor? Is this 
what colonialism means ?" 



THE ISI.AND 01^ PORtO RICO. 55 

But I was told that pomp went far in Porto Rico as in- 
other colonies, and that a governor whose manner of living- 
was less imposing would have less prestige. 

And Mr. Winthrop was about to resign it all; the salary 
of $8,000 a year, the palace, rent free, and all the authority 
that went with them, to take, at the hands of the President, 
the post of second assistant Secretary of the Treasury in 
Washington at a salary of $4,500 a year. I could not un- 
derstand it, and asked the reason. 

"I came here from the Philippines," was the explanation, 
"and I am tired of the tropical climate. Try it for as many 
years as I have and you will understand." 

I glanced at the Governor's report that night and was 
amazed at the figures of progress it presented. For the five 
years ending June 30, 1898, the average annual exports to 
the United States amounted to only $2,271,099. In 1901, 
this total had grown to $5,581,288. The following year it 
was $8,378,766; in 1903, $11,051,195; in 1904, $11,722,826; 
in 1905, $15,633,145, and in 1906, $19,142,461. 

In a speech at St. Louis in May, following Speaker Can- 
non's visit to Porto Rico, our distinguished Secretary of 
War, Mr. Taft, referred to events upon the island as evi- 
dencing a "National Altruism." Out of our national emer- 
gency fund the hurricane sufferers had received relief sup- 
plies to the extent of $200,0^0. All the customs' receipts 
had been covered into the island treasury for the mainte- 
nance of the island government. The total revenue from 
this and other sources in 1906 had been $4,250,000, as 
against an expenditure of $4,054,000. Of the civic em- 
ployees paid out of this fund, 343 were Americans and 2,548 
were natives. The United States government, moreover, 
relieved the island government of the cost of army and navy, 
of lighthouse service, coast surveys, harbor improvements. 



56 WITH spe:ake;r cannon through thi; tropics. 

marine hospital service, post-office deficit, weather bureau 
and agricultural stations. True, the island government did 
maintain a police force of 700, but this was slight in com- 
parison with the expense of 1,000 rural guards, 1,000 mu- 
nicipal and urban police and 4,000 soldiers, supported under 
the Spanish regime. In addition, the Secretary stated that the 
enrolment of pupils in the public schools had increased 600 
per cent, under the American system, for whereas when the 
Spaniards let go there was an enrollment of 21,000, with no 
buildings dedicated to public instruction, there were now 97 
public school buildings and an enrollment of 130,000, cost- 
ing $854,000 a year, as against $35,000 spent by the Spanish. 
The public roads, too, the Secretary said, had been extended 
from the 172 miles — including the great military road — left 
by the Spanish, to 463 miles improved and macadamized. 
And then, in summing up, the Secretary referred to that 
very important factor in the ''Altruism" of the United 
States toward Porto Rico, the concession of free trade which 
causes an annual ''loss to the revenues of the United States" 
of $15,000,000. 

So it is fair to assume the Porto Rican has "the cake" 
and some of "the penny," too — but he is being educated up 
to it, and it is to be expected he will seek and demand all he 
can obtain. The men whom President Roosevelt has ap- 
pointed to manage the affairs of the island are largely col- 
lege men whose theories of government have not been ob- 
tained in the practical school of politics. The "practical poli- 
tician" is not offensively in evidence on the island, except 
perhaps it be amongst the "heroes" who pose as "liberators" 
before the rural population. These are not "offensive" 
either, to an alarming extent, for the evident desire of the 
officials to have the people understand the policy of the 
United States, and their ability to speak in the national 



THE ISLAND 01^ PORTO RICO. 57 

tongue, keep the agitators respectful, while the spread of 
education, coupled with an improved financial condition, bet- 
ter roads and the like, are having the effect of making the 
people see that American citizenship is a thing to be de- 
sired. 

"In the fullness of time," as the Speaker would say, and 
when they have proven themselves worthy, it doubtless will 
come. 



CHAPTER III. 
Martinique:. 

A Midnight Insurrection — Congressional Party in Danger — The 
Schedule Restored — Martinique and Saint Pierre — Fort de 
France and Josephine — Diving That Shocks — Excitable French 
Negroes — Hill-climbing to the Governor's House — A French - 
American Tete-a-tete — Tropical Fruits and Souvenirs — The 
Monkey and the Black Boy — Knox McCain and Nick Carter — 
Hearn's Word Picture of St. Pierre — A Scene of Desolation — 
The Deadly Fer-de-Lance — Mann's Search for Relics — A Skull 
for a Drinking Cup — American Money Refused — Mt. Pelee's 
Stomach-ache — God in the Disaster — Heilprin's Conclusions — 
Martinique in the Revolution and Rebellion. 

It was late at night when we returned from the reception 
at the Governor's palace in San Juan. In such a climate 
conventional full dress naturally attracted attention, and we 
had no sooner boarded the ship than signs of revolt among 
the other passengers developed. Some of the latter, good- 
naturedly I took it, intimated that ''special" attentions were 
being paid the Speaker, and a rumor was spread that the 
itinerary was to be changed to enable the Congressional 
Party to spend more time at Panama than had been origin- 
ally scheduled, and that to this end the trip to Venezuela 
was to be abandoned. 

Up to this time Venezuela had been scarcely mentioned, 
but the rumor that it was to be dropped from the itinerary 
had a remarkable effect. Suddenly it became the goal at 
which all had aimed. If we were not to go to A^enezuela 
then the steamship company was playing unfair. It must 
be that the Congressmen were at the back of it. This was 

58 



the: ISI.AND o:^ Martinique:. 6i 

what I gathered from the excitable ones, but when they 
singled me out from the Congressional party and asked me 
to sign a petition to the captain to adhere to the schedule, 
the situation became amusing. Of course, I declined to 
sign the petition ; then the insurgents "knew for sure" they 
were on the right track. Headed by the Waterbury watch 
man they opened up for a battle royal. I insisted that we 
were out for trouble, too. If they wanted an insurrection 
it might as well come. Venezuela was the home of insur- 
rectionists, so we were simply going to our own. What to 
us was Saint Pierre and its awful desolation, or Kingston 
and its earthquake ? We were out for blood ! Mutiny, 
shipwreck, burning, looting — anything that would celebrate 
the trip and astound the people of the United States. Was 
I not one of the Bold Buccaneers of Barnegat ? 

What was the use of embarking upon such a trip as this 
if nothing desperate happened? Unless we got our names 
into the newspapers, our friends would never know we were 
out. Was I in earnest? Why, of course, I was. Had I 
not heard the voice of the people? But why settle it all 
now? Let us fight it out in the morning. 

Ah, but the insurgents were not to be appeased by this 
kind of talk. Would I undertake to say the Congressional 
party was not behind the movement to change the schedule ? 
It was White, of Connecticut, and my Union League friend, 
Helme, of Philadelphia, both smiling a little, who now 
pressed for an answer. They, too, were beginning to see 
the humor of the situation. No, I certainly would not. Mr. 
McKinley was the ''boss" of our party and Speaker Can- 
non was asleep — but here comes Loudenslager, maybe he 
can tell ! 

Of course, the astonished Loudenslager could not tell. 
He hadn't heard the subject discussed, but he was for what 



62 WITH spi:ake;r cannon through the: tropics. 

everybody was for and if they wanted to put the captain 
in irons, it was all the same to him. Mann and Btisbey 
took the same cue. In their judgment, a trip like this would 
be no kind of a trip unless somebody did something, and 
they were for having something done. And so it continued 
until long after one o'clock. The insurgents retired and the 
few members of the Congressional party who had been let 
into the secret, for the Speaker did not know, "rested on 
their oars." 

The next morning stories of trouble, change of schedule, 
favoritism, disappointment, were rife from stem to stern. 
The Brooklyn lawyer, who had so constantly reminded him- 
self of Webster, unbended enough to say he had really 
"suspected from the beginning" that somebody would defer 
to Mr. Cannon before the voyage was over and he wished 
he had come on a trip where possibly, Ahem ! — true nobility 
— might be recognized. The man who "looked like Roose- 
velt" gave an extra hitch to the waving string of his 
eye-glasses and succeeded in making them fairly flutter in 
the breeze, and as for the Cincinnati millionaire, he simply 
couldn't understand why anyone's money was any better 
than his when he had as much as anyone else. But the 
streak disappeared as rapidly as it came and that night at 
the ship's entertainment, when it was made known that 
Venezuela was still on the schedule and that Mr. McKinley 
had arranged to keep it there, despite the rumors of yellow 
fever at La Guaira, there were no insurgents around to re- 
spond to the roll-call. The Speaker was again the lion of the 
ship's entertainment and was amused, as we were, when 
told of the Scylla and Charybdis through which we had 
passed. 

Martinique, the French island of the West Indies toward 
which we were sailing, is about 400 miles from San Juan. 



THE iSIvAND O? MARTINIQUE. 63 

Our interest in it was more of curiosity than political 
concern. On the morning after peace had been restored on 
the ship, we slowed up in the open roadstead of what 
was once the gay and populous city of Saint Pierre. It 
was early and somewhat misty, but glasses and cameras 
were speedily brought into action. Down the mountain- 
sides we discerned the beds of great washouts draining 
various sides of the towering Mt. Pelee to the sea. So far 
away through sloping hills, forests and valleys did they 
extend that, but for the certainty of their coming from 
mountain heights, they might, by perverted perspective, be 
mistaken for muddy rivers. They were the courses of the 
molten streams that restless and superheated Nature had 
exuded from the mouth of the crater in August 1902, 
enacting the most destructive volcanic eruption in history. 
Smoke or mist (we afterwards learned it was smoke) 
hovered about Pelee, so that we were unable to see the 
summit. We passed the base of the mountain and drew 
near Saint Pierre, but at first no vestige of a building was 
to be seen. The site of a once hustling and strongly built 
city had been swept bare, and over the ruins a tropical 
growth of bushes had grown. A boat's crew was sent to 
build a temporary pier for the yawls, set up a tent for 
shelter and otherwise arrange for a landing when we should 
return in the afternoon. We then steamed away to Fort de 
France, which was to be our first stopping place. As we 
departed, the clearing of the atmosphere enabled us to see 
outlines of masonry, mostly cellars, and we caught glimpses 
of the walls of the Cathedral, the only ones that withstood 
for any considerable height above the ground, the tornadic 
blast from the mountain. 

Fort de France, the capital of Martinique, is eleven miles 
sailing distance from Saint Pierre. It settles back prettily 



■64 



WITH SPEAKER CANNON THROUGH THE TROPICS. 



from a land-locked harbor across from Trois Ilets, where 
Josephine, the wife of Napoleon, was born. We found 
that Josephine was the chief historical figure of the place. 
A handsome marble statue of her is the principal monu- 
ment of Fort de France. Josephine was the daughter of a 
rich planter. She was born June 23, 1763, and in 1779 
married the Viscount de Beauharnais, who died 1794. 
She became the wife of Napoleon, March 6, 1796, and 




FORT DE FRANCE, MARTINIQUE. 



was crowned Empress of the French in 1804. Napoleon 
divorced her in 1809 and she died at Malmaison, near Paris, 
five years later. The Martinique statue is a fine work of art 
imported from France. It stands in the Savane — a large 
public square, with no other ornamentation except a circle 
of royal palms which rise to an immense height and present 
a striking picture silhouetted against a background of forest- 
covered mountains. 



the: isIvAnd 01^ Martinique:. 67 

We had no sooner entered the harbor than divers flocked 
about our ship — the most daring and garrulous lot we had 
yet seen. They were also less considerate of appearance than 
those at the other islands. Black as coal, they did not take 
the trouble to wear tights, but appeared in all the glory of 
nature. While they wxre about, the ladies of the ship were 
obliged to retire from the rail and seek V^he seclusion 
that the cabin grants." The French government has had a 
great deal to contend with in Martinique, and tliis n.iay not 
be the time to add to the burden, but nevertheless it could 
not do a better service to tourists and to decency than to 
put some wholesome restraints (and clothes) on these 
divers. 

Some beautiful views unfolded at Fort de France, 
including the old fort left by the English during one of 
their occupancies of the island, but one that struck our 
particular fancy was a brand-new American flag at the stern 
of a row-boat containing a gentleman attired in white who 
was pushing his way through the black bodies in the water. 
After much effort he succeeded in getting aboard and 
presenting himself to the Speaker. We found him to be 
the American Consul. He hailed from Michigan ; had 
been in the island but six months, and labored under the 
disadvantage of speaking no French. With true Western 
breeziness, however, he had arranged for our reception 
by the Governor. A representative of the English cable 
company also presented himself to Speaker Cannon, and 
placed himself at the disposal of the Congressional party. 
This was another of the courtesies for which we had 
occasion to remember our friend, Morrell of St. Thomas. 

Through a long line of chattering negroes with high 
soprano voices, and of various tones of color from light 
mulatto to shades of bronze and black, we were landed. It 



68 



WITH spe:aker cannon through the: tropics. 



was the funniest situation we had yet confronted. Gesticu- 
lating violently and talking in a high key, in a language we 
could not understand, the natives let us know they had 




MARKET PLACE, FORT DE FRANCE. 

hacks to hire and souvenirs to sell. The latter consisted 
of cheap stuff — relics of fhe volcanic eruption, twisted nails, 
melted glasss, bits of iron, broken crockery, etc., all showing 



THE ISLAND oiP Martinique:. 69 

evidence of having been subjected to great heat. They also 
offered birds, bananas and other tropical fruit, but lost 
many sales because they would not take American money. 
For one rusty piece I offered a dime, which was refused. 
The vender wanted French money only. 

When the Speaker, with McKinley, Sherman, Tawney 
and others, reached the little iron enclosure around the 
statue of Josephine, the kodakers "got busy." Theij 
nianceuvers to get Mr. Cannon in a good light greatl}' 
interested the natives. Men and women grouped about 
and followed us wherever we went. The greater part of 
the population were tall and straight, and the women were 
not unattractive. Accustomed to carrying burdens on their 
heads they had a graceful carriage, and their rich bronze 
complexions were set off with a wealth of color ornamen- 
tation, particularly in their headgear — a sort of turban 
made from gaudily colored bandannas. They spoke a patois 
founded upon the French language, but when keyed up' 
for laughter or dispute they emitted a staccato screech that 
was ''something awful." We heard a good deal of this, 
for the people are very excitable and easily aroused. Their 
adobe houses were mostly of Spanish design with gardens 
inside the enclosure, but on the driveways to the upper 
suburbs were French chateaus, admirably suited to the 
mountain scenery and with very attractive gardens. 

The negroes who work — sometimes — work chiefly on 
sugar plantations, get from thirty to forty cents a day, 
which is about all they earn, live on fruits and care little 
"for hats, shoes or even clothing. 

The roads of Fort de France are fairly good. Here, as 
elsewhere in the islands, the women do the rough work, 
such as coaling vessels and sweeping the roads. Drawn by 
mules we followed one of the best roads up a beautifully 



70 WITH spe;ake:r cannon through thi: tropics. 

shaded hill to the Governor's house. The chief attraction 
of this house was its location, which presented a splendid 
view of mountain and sea. Built to catch each breath of air 
it was suited to his purpose, but appeared plain compared 
with the extravagantly appointed palace of the American 
Governor of Porto Rico. 

Our ride to the Governor's house ran along a stream, 
which broke into cascades as it tumbled down hill. Glancing 
through the vines and flowers that bordered it we could 
see here and there the negro women washing clothes in 
the usual West Indian way and hanging them on the 
bushes to dry. V\^hen high enough to overlook the city 
and harbor, Loudenslager told me there was something 
in the view suggestive of Hawaii, although the gardens of 
the latter excelled anything in the West Indies. From 
the hill-tops we observed a French warship in the harbor, 
the French following the example of the British in sending 
to these island possessions an occasional cruiser or battle- 
ship to remind the natives that back of the handful of 
whites who govern them is a great and well-armed power, 
swift to protect and, if need be, to revenge. 

The Acting Governor of I\Iartinique, Edmond Gaudart, 
was extremely affable, but spoke little English, and our 
party was handicapped for knowledge of French. Of 
course, all of us had studied French — but, it was like 
the girl who would play the piano but couldn't because she 
had left her music at home. The Speaker and the Governor, 
however, managed to talk to each other. The Speaker made 
some observations pertaining to the maintenance of a stable' 
government and the Governor seemed to understand. The 
old black servants brought on some French wine and some 
excellent cakes, and altogether the party enjoyed itself 
thoroughly. The Governor smoked and so did Mr. Cannon. 



the: ISI.AND OF Martinique:. 71 

The charming wife and daughter of the Governor took some 
of the party for a stroll through the garden and presented 
all with floral trophies. Most of us then assembled in a 
beautiful piazza on a promontory in the garden, overlooking 
the harbor and the islands beyond. We were discussing 
the fortifications, the race problem and the science of 




gove;rnor's e'amiIvY (Martinique:) and the speaker. 

government in an improvised Esperanto, when Louden- 
slager, like the honest old farmer who lays down the French 
menu card and "takes roast beef," brought us to a common 
level with an inquiry about Columbus. 

''Oh, yes," said the Governor very deliberately, ''Colum- 
bus discovered Martinique in 1502. The colonization by the 



'J2 WITH spi:ake:r cannon through the tropics. 

French began in 1635. It was held by the British, who built 
the -fort yonder, at two periods of the Napoleonic Wars." 

Mann, who had wandered off on an arborial expedition, 
now appeared with sundry specimens. He had found his 
first tamarind tree and had secured some of the beans 
which closely resembled his favorite Chicago product — the 
half-smoked sausage. He also brought the sapodilla, a 
tropical fruit with a fibrous pulp and a skin like a russet. 
We found that it was a staple food of the natives in 
most of the islands. It grows in abundance on trees about 
the size of the American orchard apple and ranks as a food- 
fruit almost equal to the orange and the banana. 

Returning to the city we wandered through the streets 
of Fort de France afoot. We found it far too irksome 
to utilize the negro drivers for sight-seeing purposes. They 
could not or would not understand English, French (as 
spoken by our party) or the sign language. The Consul 
tried it on for awhile and landed us all at the Cathedral. 
While this was not the objective point, some of us found it 
the best place to leave our money — for elsewhere it seemed 
to have no value. The huddled condition of the narrow 
streets made it easy to collect crowds and, as both sexes 
seemed as curious with regard to us as we were as to them, 
it merely required our presence in any given quarter to 
attract a crowd. Had Speaker Cannon chosen midday for 
a jaunt through Mott Street, it could not have been more 
ludicrous than his wanderings through some of the streets 
of Fort de France. But it was "nuts and raisins" to him 
, and no one enjoyed the chatter, the nervous excitement 
of the denizens and their running back and forth more 
than he. 

But little shopping was done in Fort de France, the few 
souvenirs purchased consisting of crucifixes, images of 



THE ISIvAND O? MARTINIQUE. 



73 



saints, photographs and reUcs of Saint Pierre — and the 
inevitable post cards — printed as we learned, in France. 
Olcott fell in love with a pair of paroquets, but couldn't 
get them on the ship. He was less fortunate than the 
dashing Widow, for she succeeded in landing a live monkey 
— a subsequent cause of trouble for the captain, for, having 
admitted the monkey, he summarily rejected an orphaned 




NATIVE SUGAR VENDORS, FORT DE FRANCE. 



negro boy for whom a philanthropic Michigan lady desired 
to provide passage and a home. 

"There it goes again," was the substance of the grievance. 
"She can have her monkey, but this dear little homeless 
boy must remain here a wanderer." 

•'But the immigration laws forbid it," was the captain's 
safe rejoinder. ''Monkeys are not barred." 



74 WITPI SPEAKER CANNON THROUGH THE; TROPICS. 

From Fort de France we returned in the afternoon to St. 
Pierre. I had picked up a vohime entitled "A Mystery of 
Pompeii/' by my old friend, George Knox McCain, hoping, 
on the way, to make comparisons between Pelee and the 
great Vesuvian tragedy, but finding it a novel whose main 
lesson was against the vice of gambling, I was about to 
throw it aside when the Speaker called for reading matter. 

"Give it to him," said Tawney, "he's not going ashore." 

"But it wouldn't interest him," said I. 

"Oh, yes it would," was the quick retort. "Even Senator 
Hoar found solace in Nick Carter." 

Twenty years ago, the eccentric Lafcadio Hearn, in his 
"Two Years in the French West Indies," wrote thus cheerily 
of Saint Pierre : 

"The quaintest, queerest, and the prettiest withal, among 
West Indian cities ; all stone built and stone flagged, with 
very narrow streets, wooden or zinc awnings, and peaked 
roofs of red tile, pierced by gable dormers. Most of the 
buildings are painted in a clear yellow tone, which contrasts 
delightfully with the burning blue ribbon of tropical sky 
above; and no street is absolutely level; nearly all of them 
climb hills, descend into hollows, curve, twist, describe 
sudden angles. There is everywhere a loud murmur of 
running water, pouring through the deep gutters contrived 
betweeen the paved thoroughfare and the absurd little side- 
walks, A^arying in width from one to three feet. The archi- 
tecture is that of the seventeenth century, and reminds one 
of the antiquated quarter of New Orleans. All the tints, 
the forms, the vistas, would seem to have been especially 
elected or designed for aquarelle studies. The windows 
are f rameless openings without glass ; some have iron bars ; 
all have wooden shutters with movable slats, through which 
li«ht and air can enter." 



the: ISI.AND OF Martinique:. 



75 



What he then so brilHantly described was now no more. 
The architecture was but a recollection — there were no 
peaked roofs, no awnings, onl}- a few sullen walls. Habita- 
tions — there were none ; debris overgrown with weeds oblit- 
erated the streets and "absurd little sidewalks.'' Where 
breathed and moved the liveliest, gayest 30,000 of Marti- 
nique's 200,000 souls — all was desolation. No, there was 
something left ; for over by the hillside a dozen negroes were 
clearing away the drift, and by excavating to a depth of live 




MOUNTAIN VIlSW 01? ST. PI^RRE;. 



feet were brmging into view the flagstone pavement of Vic- 
tor Hugo Street, the principal thoroughfare of the buried 
city. It was a mighty small oasis in the desert. 

A thick growth of tropical bushes, succored by the fre- 
quent rains and the fertilizing qualities of the ash deposit, 
had risen over the ruins, extending in some places to a 
height of eight or ten feet and making one's way through it 
unpleasant, especially to one who had read of the deadly 
fer-de-lance — the snake which lurks in the forest and the 



"j^ WITH spi:ake:r cannon through thp: tropics. 

bush of Martinique. But A/[ann, who joined me in a tramp 
across the ruins, was as sceptical on snakes as though they 
had been Congressional measures, and insisted by his ex- 
plorations in demonstrating that they really did not exist. 
He wanted to follow the unbeaten paths which carried us 
into cellars and backyards, rivers and the remnants of cause- 
ways. Since I had climbed over the ruins of Johnstown 
immediately after the flood in 1889, the experience was not 
wholly new. It put the beads of perspiration all over us, 
turned our white caps, trousers and shoes to the color of 
dust and ashes and attached to us a legion of burrs and 
nettles that stuck closer than an impecunious friend. We 
climbed over cellar walls and through scarcely visible remains 
of streets covered with a heterogeneous litter from fine ashes 
to cobblestones and boulders. Apparently a river of rock 
had followed the asphyxiating blast and swept away tlie 
walls down to their foundations. No wood was left, but 
everywhere were bits of iron — hinges of gateways, tires of 
wagon-wheels, knives, forks, spoons, door-knobs, hinges, 
axe-heads, the handles burned out, bits of roofing and struc- 
tural iron, glass bottles partly melted, broken china, images 
of saints, and other uninflammable substances. Here and 
there were holes in the ground, evidently the sites of jewelry 
stores or building containing valuables, which had been ex- 
cavated for the treasure. In the rear of what seemed to be 
a warehouse we came across a dungeon with walls three feet 
thick. It was far underground. Within the vault were two 
great bowls of stone. We could not make out their use, 
although we stayed inside for some time to escape a tropical 
storm, and examined them closely. Owing to its great 
strength the vault was unimpaired, but the ash-dust had 
blown in and covered the stone ledges of the bowls to a depth 
of six inches. Another structure which attracted us was a 



the; island 01^ Martinique:. 77 

prison vault on the mountain side, from which, the story 
goes, a prisoner was taken alive. Though the claimant for 
this peculiar honor has been on exhibition in the United 
States, his tale is discredited in Martinique. 

Our relics included some ornaments, a whole plate, keys, 
door-knobs of odd design and a couple of skulls — the latter, 
on our return to camp, aroused the curiosity of the passen- 
gers. We didn't want them. Who would take them? 

''Oh, so novel !" said the Widow. ''May I have one for a 
drinking cup ?" 

The Widow got one and proudly packed it with her other 
relics. My medical friend. Dr. Stokes, of Moorestown, New 
Jersey, got the other, but not, he explained, for libatory pur- 
poses. 

Hundreds of black relic venders assembled round the 
landing place before our departure. They were a sorry- 
looking lot, and, strange to say, included the young fellow 
who had refused my dime at Fort de France earlier in the 
day. His day's work had not been very profitable, for he 
had the same relic which, to help him out, I had offered to 
take. He had made the long journey over to have another 
try at the Americans before they sailed away. Merely to 
test him, I again offered him American money for his worth- 
less stuff, but he looked it over, bit it, and handed it back 
with a negative nod. They wanted the ''franc" and the 
"sou," nothing else would do. It was so with all the other 
chattering natives. American money had no rvalue to them 
and they made few sales. 

And so this awful waste was all that remained of tie 
churches, the banks, the stores, the homes, the highways and 
bridges of Saint Pierre ! i\ot one human being of the whole 
30,000 escaped the dread blast from yonder smoking moun- 
tain. 



78 WITH spe:ake:r cannon through the tropics. 

"I was here before the eruption," said an officer of the 
launch in which we were being carried back to the ship. 
'It was a beautiful town — so lively, so full of entertain- 
ment — and the roadstead here was full of ships. They did 
much business in Saint Pierre. The streets were filled with 
people." 

But in the brief space of three, certainly not more than 
five, minutes, the end had come to all — people, business, 
wharves, cargoes, even the ships at anchor. Nothing within 



l£h 


'"l^^'^'^^^ 




91 



EXCAVATED STREET, ST. PIERRE. 



the zone of that frightful eruption escaped. The gases, 
the ashes, the boulders, the earth itself, rolled down in one 
great black cloud. They levelled to the surface every stand- 
ing thing and penetrated every valley, street and crevice. 
There was no escape. It was destruction and death, swift 
and relentless. And yet for days and weeks the treacherous 
old mountain had been muttering and spluttering. Warning- 
had been given in quakes of earth and emissions of fire and 
smoke. The people had been scared and had gone to their 
diurches, but they had been reassured. 



Tiii: ISLAND o]? Martinique:. 79 

''There is no danger," the local writers said. 'Telee is 
simply growling at herself. She has partaken of something 
that doesn't agree with her." 

A few left the city; they didn't like tlie eruptions; but 
most of the people remained. Then darkness came upon 
them and — the end. Saint Pierre went out, snuffed as a 
candle, but Pelee's convulsions did not cease. The rumbling 
continued and the gases reached for other victims. Vessels, 
eight miles at sea, reported falling cinders and other evi- 
dences of the terrific force of the eruptions. 

In the wake of death and desolation at Johnstown, I heard 
men bereft of wives, children and property, bewildered to 
madness, say : 

"There is no God ; else He would not have permitted this 
to happen." 

Their power to reason had given way in the darkness of 
the hour. God did not construct the South Fork dam which 
held in leash the waters of the Conemaugh. That dam had 
been reared by human hands, and it had simply not been 
strong enough to hold back the water that filled up behind it. 
When the dam broke, the water fell upon Johnstown — the 
result was inevitable. Unlike Johnstown, the destruction of 
life in Saint Pierre was not partial, but complete. No living 
human being was left to tell the tale. But again, as we stood 
on deck overlooking the site where thrice 10,000 lives had 
been snuffed out ''in the twinkling of an eye," I overheard 
a suggestion as to God's hand in the work. This time it was 
the good old lady who had read that Saint Pierre was "a 
wicked city," and that its obliteration had been "a visitation 
of the Almighty." To set myself straight, I turned for a 
statement of conclusions to the report of Professor Angelo 
Heilprin, of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, 
who made a thorough investigation of the disaster. It was 



8o WITH spi:aker cannon through the: tropics. 

the old story. The superheated earth beneath the mountain 
had found an outlet — that was all. In his scientific way the 
Professor attributed the tornadic blast that fell upon Saint 
Pierre and subsequent eruptions that invaded Morne Rouge, 
Ajoupa, Bovillon, Morne Capot, Morne Balai and the heights 
of Bourdon to "superheated exploded steam, charged in part 
with particles of incandescent or glowing matter." To the 
showering of the latter upon the combustible substances of 
Morne Rouge, the Professor said, ''was due the partial de- 
struction by conflagration of that city. Whatever accessory 
gases, besides sulphurous (or sulphuretted-hydrogen), may 
have assisted in the work of asphyxiation or otherwise kill- 
ing", has not been ascertained, nor is it known that there were 
any such. The simple condition of superheating and steam- 
ing can probably sufficiently explain all the cases of asphyxi- 
ation and scorching, or of death, where it was not brought 
about through contact with burning or incandescent par- 
ticles, electric strokes, crumbling walls and the violence of a 
fully sweeping tornado. The inhaling of an atmosphere of 
the intense heat of many hundreds of degrees, in places with 
a temperature possibly much exceeding one thousand de- 
grees, means practically almost instantaneous death." 

Were the Coroner's jury to hear the evidence, the verdict 
would doubtless be that Saint Pierre "had died from natural 
causes." The cataclysm was a tragedy of the centuries ; the 
loss of life was appalling, but death and destruction had 
been instantaneous and thorough. Pain, anguish, property 
rights, litigation, people and causes had been eliminated to- 
gether. There was no earthly aftermath. 

"It was a bully way to go !" said the passenger who was 
trying to forget his trouble. 



The Speaker was chatting with Senator Curtis when 
Mann arrived with his arm-load of musty relics. 



THE iSlvAND 01? MARTINIQUE). 8l 

*'You look like a boiled lobster !" he said. "Don't you 
know you're only fifteen degrees above the equator ?" 

'It may be a little hot," replied the objector, "but you 
don't have a chance to disprove this snake story every day." 

"There are 400 square miles of Martinique you didn't see," 
said the Speaker. "You didn't go far enough back in the 
bush — in the jungles on those mountains or half-way across 
the island — there's where you ought to look." 

We found that during our absence from the ship the 
Speaker, with the Senator, Sherman and others, had been 
viewing Martinique through the field-glasses of history. As 
a matter of fact the island did figure somewhat in both the 
Revolution and the Rebellion. Froude has a brilliant chap- 
ter discrediting the victory of Rodney over de Grasse with 
Martinique in the setting, and the Speaker made reference to 
it. When the Revolution terminated by the surrender of 
Cornwallis at Yorktown, Count de Grasse, the French Ad- 
miral who had co-operated with Washington, sailed for 
Martinique, intending to refit and join the Spaniards in a 
final effort to drive Great Britain from the West Indies. 
Rodney, formerly in command in the West Indies, had been 
recalled at the demand of Burke, and one after the other the 
islands had been recaptured by the Spanish or the French. 
The news of de Grasse's movements created alarm, and Rod- 
ney was ordered back to his station. He sailed at once with 
all the ships he could gather, and, fortunately for England, 
escaped an order from the government to strike his flag and 
return. Froude says : "Had that fatal command reached 
him, Gibraltar would have fallen, and Hastings' Indian em- 
pire would have melted into air. But, before the order ar- 
rived, Rodney had fought the greatest naval battle in Eng- 
lish annals and had won." De Grasse was a prisoner and the 
French fleet had been scattered into wreck and ruin, 
6 



82 WITH spe:ake:r cannon through the tropics. 

''So on that memorable day," continued Froude, "was the 
EngUsh Empire saved. Peace followed, but it was peace 
with honor. The American colonies were lost, but England 
kept her West Indies; her flag still floated over Gibraltar, 
the hostile strength of Europe all combined had failed to 
twist Britannia's ocean sceptre from her; she sat down 
maimed and bleeding, but the wreath had not been torn from 
her brow ; she was still sovereign of the seas." 

It was at Saint Pierre during the war of the rebellion that 
the Alabama, the famous rebel blockade runner, was 
blockaded, watched by the Iroquois. It seemed impossible 
for her to escape, but under the guidance of a native pilot 
who knew the deep places and the unmarked reefs; she took 
the chances and succeeded in making her way to sea. There 
were no searchlights in those days, or the movement would 
have failed. The Alabama was saved only to fall a victim 
to the Kearsarge in an open sea fight off the coast of France. 




STREET SCENE, BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS. 



CHAPTER IV. 

BARBADOS. 

A Congested "lyittle England" — Emancipation and Its Consequences 
—Women Coaling Ships — Labor of Men and Women Compared 
— Relations of Whites and Blacks — Problem of the Consulates — 
Coral Rock Roads— England's "Big Stick"— The Work of the 
Polyps — Visit to the Governor — The Cannon Ball and Its Uses — 
Tawney's Souvenir of Columbus — The Widow on Horseback — 
Exportations to Panama — Curious Debate in the Assembly — 
Canal Labor Criticised — The Jeweler and the Tariff — American 
Capital Wanted — A Market Place Episode — Novelties and the 
Color Craze — A Diver Who Dared — Songs That Tortured. 

Off to the east of the Caribbean group, as it were the 
outpost of the Greater and Lesser Antilles, lies the inter- 
esting little Island of Barbados. The name is venerable 
with antiquity, and in a vague sort of way I had felt that 
Barbados was an important place. 

Once upon a time it was "the headquarters" of the Lesser 
Antilles, and its Governor-General was ruler of the 
neighboring islands of Grenada, St. Vincent, Tobago, 
Trinidad and St. Lucia. In those days it was a great 
military and naval post, and John Bull strutted there in all 
the panoply of war. But now the pomp of militarism is 
gone. The Governor is governor of Barbados only. The 
dense forests that formerly covered the island from shore 
to shore have disappeared, and the lonely sentry appears 
to be shrinking within itself, tired of its watch and 
apprehensive of the march of progress going on to the 
westward. With a congested population of freed black 
men, resigned to a slothful and unambitious existence, 

85 



86 WITH spe:ake:r cannon through the tropics. 

with the rich planters, of days now only a memory, gone 
to other fields, the island has settled down to the raising 
of sugar-cane and grinding out of rum and niolasses in 
such quantities as labor is willing to produce. England 
regards the island as a "Crown Colony," and appoints a 
Governor, who has associated with him an Executive and 
a Legislative Council, in addition to a House of Assembly, 
which represents the masses of the people. But the right 
of suffrage is not of great concern to "the plain people" 
of Barbados, for it involves both thought and responsibility 
and — what's the use? So, while the natives are free, the 
Governor rules and England is supreme, but there is no 
hilarious exaltation about the supremacy. I imagine 
England is about as proud of her possessions in the West 
Indies as we are of United States supremacy in the 
Philippines. But England is tenacious, and having spent 
a couple of centuries in the glorious work of liberating and 
civilizing the natives of her West Indian possessions, she 
hates to throw them up. For a century or more Barbados 
has enjoyed the reputation, if it may be said that such a 
reputation is enjoyable, of being the most densely populated 
country in the world. Some of the earlier authorities make 
an exception of Malta, but I believe that now even Malta is 
no longer in the running. 

With our expansive territories and American notions of 
bigness, it seems unfair to rate Barbados as a full-fledged 
country. It is only an oval-shaped plot, twenty-two miles 
long and fourteen miles broad, with an area of one hundred 
and sixty-six square miles, thirty-seven more than Phila- 
delphia contains, and fifty-four less than Chicago. Within 
that territory there are nearly 200,000 people, the capital, 
Bridgetown, containing about 25,000. 

History is not entirely clear as to the discovery of 



THE iSIvAND 01^ BARBADOS. 87 

Barbados, but it was probably found by the Portuguese early 
in the sixteenth century. When the English first visited it, 
in 1605, it was a dense, uninhabited woodland. The first 
English colony, consisting of forty whites and seven 
negroes, was established there in 1625. A fruitless effort 
to seize the island was made by the Dutch, in 1665, and the 
negroes tried several times to get the government into their 
hands. The last attempt of this kind was made in 1825, 
and failed, so that the British have maintained their power 
in Barbados from the beginning. 

The Church of England is the established form of 
worship, but the Wesleyan Church is very strong, and to 
the credit of the negro it must be said he is quite religious. 
The natives speak English, and for this, after our Martin- 
ique experience, but 140 miles away, we were thankful. 

Slavery prevailed in Barbados until 1834, when a royal 
proclamation abolished serfdom in all forms. It was this 
humanitarian movement that established a basis for the 
lamentations of the English writers, Trollope and Froude. 
To them the consequences of abolition spelled industrial and 
commercial decadence for the West Indies. Froude wrote 
despairingly upon this subject as late as 1887. Our own 
investigations indicated that conditions, so far as the 
investment of capital and the promotion of commerce were 
concerned, had not greatly improved since that time. The 
famous West Indian planter, whose fortune was built upon 
his ability to get work out of his slaves, was now only a 
tradition, and many of the plantations had disappeared for 
want of capital and energy to operate them. 

Wlien we had passed the dangerous coral reefs and 
safely entered Bridgetown harbor, numerous small craft 
appeared. The British flag was chiefly in evidence, but one 
yacht, that of Mr. Agassiz, displayed the flag of the New 



88 WITH spi:AKii:R cannon through the: tropics. 

York Yacht Club. Before landing, our attention was 
attracted to groups of husky negro women coaling ships. 
They were coming and going in long lines from shore to 
ship and ship to shore, running up and down huge gang- 
planks and carrying bushel baskets of coal upon their 
heads. They had been chanting some weird stevedorian song, 
but stopped at our approach and waved their hands (they 
did not carry handkerchiefs), seeming greatly pleased that 
we had come. They then returned to the coal bins. As the 
women who carried coal in Porto Rico and St. Thomas 
were credited with receiving a cent a basket for coal carried 
to the holds of ships, I was surprised to learn that the 
women of Barbados frequently made no more than sixteen 
cents a day, but this was quoted as fair, since men laborers 
in the field received from twenty to thirty cents a day. 

But these women — who seemed the equal in strength and 
industry of any of their male companions — interested me, 
and at the first opportunity on shore I looked them over at 
close range. Some were black and some were yellow. 
Some wore cheap jewelry, and others came near to nature 
unadorned, their clothing consisting of a light, ragged calico 
dress, reaching to the knees, or a little below, and not high 
enough at the neck to be uncomfortable. 

But they were all splendid specimens of physical woman- 
hood, parading up the gang-plank, with their weighty 
baskets on their heads, as gracefully as ladies of the social 
set might cross a ballroom floor. 

From the nature of their occupation they had acquired 
straight backs. Their necks were strong and erect, and 
their chests, arms and legs betokened great muscular 
strength. Their feet were tough and sprawling, and when 
I directed Mann's attention to them, that fierce Chicago 
pride, that ever characterized him, was sorely touched. The 



the: ISI.AND OF BARBADOS. 89 

only suggestion of weakness about them arose from 
their shrill, effeminate voices. They sounded childish, but 
even so, I pitied the mortal blacks, who, having the courage 
to wed these women of the wharf, should trifle with their 
affections. 

Since no kind of labor was harder or dirtier than carrying 
coal, I inquired what the men did. My informant said that 
some of them worked in the field for two or three days 
a week, and then ''rested." Some of them drove hacks, 
some stood in the markets and sold fruit, dried fish and 
other food products; others helped to raise sugar and 
tobacco, and others worked in molasses and rum-producing 
plants, while the more intelligent filtered through to be 
policemen or soldiers. This, of course, applied to common 
labor, there being some mechanics and building trades' 
workmen among the negroes who were dependable and 
capable of earning better compensation. 

''Any labor unions down here ?" I asked one of the better 
grade of workmen. 

"Never heard of any, boss; guess it wouldn't pay," was 
the laconic reply. 

It was evident Speaker Cannon's presence in the West 
Indies was now a matter of inter-island information, for 
the American Consul, Mr. Clare, of Boston, with his 
assistant, Mr. Kervey, from Congressman Butler's Dela- 
ware County, Pennsylvania, District, were awaiting us at 
the wharf. They had carriages ready for the McKinley 
party, but gave us an opportunity, first of all, to view the 
monument to Admiral Nelson in Trafalgar Square. Here 
was a pretty piece of statuary directly at the wharf, sur- 
rounded by a happy and heated mixture of negroes, teams, 
lighterage and market stuff. A "Nelson Monument in 
Trafalgar Square" sounded familiar to our trans-Atlantic 



90 WITH spe:ake:r cannon through the tropics. 

passengers, and explained to them, in part, the reason for 
giving to Barbados the soubriquet of ''Little England." 

"It is more like the mother-country than any other 
colony," said an enthusiastic islander. 

But for the preponderance of black faces met everywhere 
in our journeyings we could have appreciated this com- 
parison. 

. Our first stop was at the Bridgetown Club. Here were 
introduced to the Speaker a number of the leading citizens. 
While that famous English specialty, "a little Scotch and 
soda," was ingratiating itself into the good will of the 
Americans, I noticed, in photographs of local dinners, the 
faces hites and blacks at table together. It was going 

the Washington incident one better, and I made 

some Uiv.^ ^s. 

''There are refined and learned negroes in Barbados," 
said the gentleman addressed, "and many of them, being 
office-holders and of gentlemanly deportment, are admitted 
to social functions. It is not usual, however, where women 
are concerned." 

Down through the congested part of the city, the narrow 
streets teeming with a gay throng of black men and women, 
we drove to the American consulate. We had taken a fancy 
to Mr. Clare, for he clearly understood his business, but 
the consulate did not impress us at all. It was a bare, 
imdignified place, conveying no adequate idea of the import- 
ance attaching to it and leaving tipon the mind of the visitor 
an unfair notion of the spirit and influence of the United 
States. I confess the palace of the Governor of Porto Rico 
semed a little overdone, but this poor consulate — and I 
mention it because of others we observed equally unworthy 
the United States — stood as an object lesson of the 
desirability of placing American representatives in foreign 



THE ISLAND O^ BARBADOS. 



91 



lands on an equal footing with those of other nations. This 
is a problem with which the State Department is wrestling, 
and, as it affects the honor and dignity of the country, it 
cannot be too speedily adjusted. 

Once out upon the highways we began to appreciate 
Barbados. The roads were good — but they were so white 




SUBURBS OF BRIDGl^TOWN. 



they glistened in the sun. Cut out of the coral rock, they 
needed little treatment, and, it being the dry season, they 
sent up an everlasting dust that fell upon our hats and 
clothes. In many places the long stretches of white were 
relieved by bordering hedges of vines and flowering plants. 
We passed through avenues of royal palms and noted some 
beautiful homes and public buildings. Bridgetown has 



92 WITH SPEAKER CANNON THROUGH THi: TROPICS. 

educational institutions which have given the cit}^ an 
enviable fame, a number of architecturally-attractive 
churches, a splendid free library building, and numerous 
large stores. Hastings Rocks is a popular watering-place, 
and behind it is the Marine Hotel, where many Americans 
spend the winter months. The public buildings of Bridge- 
town are imposing, but the military reservations of the 
government no longer know the tread of the soldier. After 
spending millions upon fortifications and barracks, the 
latter still in excellent preservation, Great Britain has 
withdrawn her troops from Barbados, leaving only the 
nucleus of an army in the white -helmeted black policemen 
who preserve the peace of the island. But the Home 
Government maintains a close touch upon the situation, for 
a warship of his Majesty's navy, like a "big stick" that 
''speaks softly," drops into the harbor at unexpected 
intervals, and remains long enough to have it known by 
all concerned that the strong arm of England is behind 
the Governor and his associates, and that any attempted 
revolution will be promptly quelled. A better policy than 
maintaining standing armies, perhaps, and certainly a 
cheaper one. 

We found none of the Saint Pierre washouts about 
Barbados. The whole island is a coral rock — a nubbin of 
the sea. 

One thing for which the natives are extremely thankful 
is that their island is not subject to earthquakes. There is 
nothing volcanic about it. Once in remote eons, a bunch 
of polyps got together along the ocean bed and formed a 
colony. They kept on grouping and dying together until 
out of the depths they had reared a mountain — and this 
\rith their own bodies. Then they turned it over to mankind. 
That is the way Barbados happened. It is nothing but a mass 




WORKING IN sugar-cane;^ BARBADOS. 



THi: iSIvAND O^ BARBADOS. 95 

of wriggling sea animals petrified. But the busy little 
fellows builded well, and out of their conglomerate man 
has been able to rear great structures, for coral rock is 
quarried for building purposes, and it makes the land pro- 
ductive, since the minute particles of rock which constitute 
tillable soil are remarkable for their fertility. Not only 
did the polyps provide the splendid highways of the island, 
but in Bridgetown many of the sidewalks and steps leading 
to private residences are hewn from virgin rock. On the 
outskirts of the city visitors are shown a huge lion rampant, 
typical of British authority, carved out of a coral boulder. 

At the end of our drive, during which we saw the cutting 
of sugar-cane on several nearby plantations, we were 
brought to the Governor's house — a fine old mansion on the 
outskirts of the city, surrounded by a park with sloping 
drives and luxuriant shade trees. The Governor, Sir 
Gilbert Carter, R.N., K.C.M.G., an admirable type of the 
English gentleman, received the Speaker and party in a 
delightful open-air workshop in the garden. The climate 
of the island was so soft we found the formality, al fresco, 
exceedingly more pleasant than it would have been in the 
main building. Sir Gilbert and the Speaker were speedily 
wrapped in conversation, not the least pleasing feature of 
which was the Governor's acknowledgment to America for 
the wife who directed his household. Then they drifted 
into the affairs of the islands. 

It was here that Mann, the botanist, drifted out. The 
rich foliage of the garden was too much for him. 

"The gardener beckoneth !" he said. 

In a few moments the ''Great Objector" was in a state 
bordering on hysteria. He had surveyed the coral quarry 
in the rear of the grounds, had spelled out bougainvillean 
for the stately vine whose gorgeous purple bloom encircled 



g6 WITH SPE^AKER CANNON THROUGH THE) TROPICS. 

milady's latticed bower, and had finally cornered the 
gardener under a cannon-ball tree. It was here the Speaker, 
sallying forth with the Governor, found him. Mann and 
the gardener were now chums. The former cut a cannon- 
ball from its rugged bough and hurled it with great violence 
to the ground. The russet rind was broken, and the halves 
lay quivering at his feet. 

"See,'' said Mann, "it is white inside, but it will change 
color. It looks frothy, like whipped cream, but it is coarse 
and hard. There, as the air strikes it, see how villainously 
green it becomes? It is poisonous!" 

"There is a legend," said Sherman, as he watched the 
death of this curious growth of the tropics, "that when 
the Dutch were attacking the island, these cannon-balls 
were actually used for ammunition. I can't vouch for the 
truth of the tale, but if the fruit were piled in pyramids it 
would at least look formidable to the enemy." 

"Just as good as Edam cheeses, all the while," put in 
McKinley. 

We were conversing under an arbor, when Tawney pulled 
from his pocket a souvenir spoon, which he had purchased 
at a little shop in the city. It had on the bowl a picture of 
Columbus landing at Barbados. When the Governor saw 
it, he inquired, with a smile, where Tawney got it, and he 
laughed when Tawney told him. 

"It's queer," he said, "but Columbus never landed in 
Barbados. I think that spoon was made in New York." 

At this the Speaker smiled. Was there an island at 
which Columbus had not landed? 

Tawney, of course, was very much offended. He vowed 
to meet again the author of his embarrassment. Was he 
some veritable "Reuben" to be "taken in and done for" by 
a miserable curio seller of the West Indies? 



the; isIvAnd o^ Barbados. 97 

Later in the day he found his man. 

''To be sure, the spoon had been made in New York. 
Did the American gentleman expect so fine a product in 
Barbados? The design on the bowl was the work of a 
native, but the spoon itself was of American make, and the 
American got the tariff. Surely, the Governor could not 
say Columbus did not land. Perhaps not on the first expedi- 
tion, but on the second. Ah! Sir Gilbert had doubtless 
forgotten the second expedition, but it was, nevertheless, 
a fact. Governors were so forgetful, and if it weren't for 
the souvenir men the history of the island would soon be 
lost." 

Tawney kept the spoon. 

We left the Governor to keep a dinner engagement with 
the American Consul and his friends at the Marine Hotel. 
The Bluecher's other passengers already crowded the place, 
but over its ample porches the salt, soft, southern air blew 
so evenly as to keep us all in rattling good humor. The 
Speaker's arrival occasioned the usual stir, but after he 
had settled down, with several American friends who were 
sojourning on the island, a general movement toward the 
main entrance attracted us all. Surely something had 
happened! Or, had some other notability arrived? Busbey, 
Eversman, and Dr. Hough left their chairs. Sherman 
nearly upset the bottle of ink that was doing service for 
the post-card brigade, and McKinley, who had been dozing, 
almost fell from his chair. 

"What is it?" he demanded, as the breathless Eversman 
returned to his seat. 

"The Widow !" was the reply ; "she's got a new hat." 

There she was, gaily bedecked and bedizened, the 
prancing bay she rode flecked with foam. Would she 
dismount at once? Not much. The horse must do some 
evolutions. My, how daintily fell the riding whip! 

7 



98 WITH spe:ake:r cannon through the; tropics. 

"Back on your haunches, back, back, I say !" 

And the movement graceftilly executed, she threw the 
reins to an attendant, and jumped from the saddle. 

The Americans at dinner inchided Mr. Karner, a special 
agent of the Government at Washington, who had been 
sent out to engage labor for the Panama Canal. His work 
in Barbados had resulted in the shipment of 15,000 negroes, 
but the Barbados' authorities had begun to discourage the 
business, because of the demand for labor from the interior 
of the island. It was the glorious prospect of ''a dollar a 
day," the agent explained, that attracted most of the negroes. 
In other quarters, however, we learned that many of the 
natives who applied to join the Panama emigrants were 
shiftless, ''no account" fellows who hoped to break the 
articles of shipment and find their way into the United 
States. From the Legislative proceedings reported in the 
Barbados Advocate, which came to us at table, we gathered 
some odd information regarding the labor exportations. 
The Attorney-General, in the House of Assembly, had 
moved the second reading of a resolution appropriating 
£1,441 to increase the police force. Mr. Clarke opposed 
the motion. 

''The evidence on all sides," he said, "pointed to a 
decrease in crime and disorder, and not to an increase. 
Glendairy was half empty (hear, hear!) ; the record lowest 
number per day was reached only a few months ago, 
according to the report on that institution issued a short 
time back. With that state of things, with the gaol half- 
empty, with the city and country districts depleted of most 
of their undesirable characters by emigration to Panama, 
with the magistrates' courts with only half of the work to 
do which they had ten years ago, in some cases less than 
half; with these elements, and with no sign on the horizon 



the: ISIvAND 01? BARBADOS. 99 

of any tendency to disorder, the House was invited to 
increase the poHce force. If that was an invitation on which 
reasonable men could act, he should be very much sur- 
prised. He could quite understand if anything like a storm 
cloud was brewing. In this country, as the experience of 
1876 went to show, disorder never burst like a thunder 
clap. He was not referring to a casual potato riot, like that 
which took place at Boscobel a short time ago. That 
might occur at any time, and could be put down by a handful 
of men. He referred to organized disorder, like the incident 
of 1876. That incident showed there were special causes at 
work to account for the riots which took place, but even then 
they could see the storm brewing a month or two ahead. If 
anything of that sort happened again, he should be quite 
willing to vote for an increase. As to the argument that 
it would then be too late, there was nothing in it. There 
might be some force in such an argument when it 
came to soldiers who had to be trained to fight against 
regular forces, but it was absurd to talk about keep- 
ing police in training in anticipation of keeping an 
unarmed and undisciplined mob in check. He would point 
out, besides, that they were spending a considerable sum 
of money on the volunteer force, both foot and mounted 
infantry, and this was an additional force which might be 
called upon in case of any emergency. A great many 
nervous people thought there would be an outburst of 
disorder on the removal of the troops. The troops had been 
removed over twelve months ago, and he asked, 'was not 
the state of things in the country much better than ever it 
was before ?' " 

The Attorney-General returned to the discussion with 
the declaration that no outbreak was feared, and the 
increase was wanted merely to give the city and vicinity 



lOO WITH SPEAKER CANNON THROUGH THE TROPICS. 

adequate police protection. He was supported by Mr. 
Skeete, a member of the House, who said that, as an instance 
of the necessity for greater poHce protection, he "would 
mention that for several Christmas eves past he had been 
unable to sleep, owing to the commotion kept up by people 
outside. He had applied to the police station at Speights- 
town, but was told they had no available men. The 
only policemen he usually saw were the writ officers." 
(Laughter.) 

But the crushing blow came (and Panama came with it) 
when Mr. Reece took up the cudgels against the resolution. 
In reply tO' Mr. Skeete, the speaker ''was inclined to think 
that the Honorable member would derive no advantage 
from this small increase, as the few men and horses would 
be exhausted before they got to Speightstown. He was 
afraid St. Lucy was not thought of in this arrangement, 
but only fashionable residential centers, like Belleville, 
Strathclyde, etc. That being so, he feared the honorable 
member would have to take a sleeping draught of some kind 
on Christmas eve. (Laughter.) It seemed to him that it 
would be a waste of money to spend something like iSoo 
a year for the upkeep of a few additional police at a time 
when police would find little or nothing to do, except to 
prevent a few girls or women having a talk at a standpipe, 
because all the men had gone to Panama." 

With this, the resolution was defeated, the inference being 
that law and order was better preserved in Barbados 
without the 15,000 negroes exported to Panama than it had 
been before their departure. 

When the cigars came, someone mentioned Tawney's 
souvenir spoon. 

"That's nothing," he said, "Columbus is no longer an 
issue. A leading man at this house has pointed out to me 



the: ISI^AND 01? BARBADOS. lOI 

a table at which George Washington sat when he visited 
Barbados." 

"He's got us," said Sherman, "we'd better quit." 

"But there's the table!" said the Chairman of Appro- 
priations. 

Later in the day, while wandering alone through the 
shopping district of Bridgetown, I dropped into the jewelry 
store of an alert, intelligent mulatto. The watch presented 
to me by the Five O'clock Club had stopped, and I wanted 
to see if it could be repaired before the ship sailed. 
With some misgivings I handed it over, but the jeweler 
had it apart in a jiffy, and one squint through his lens 
satisfied him that he could not fix it while I waited. He 
was so dexterous and obliging I felt it a duty to make a 
purchase. Some silver ornaments pleased me and I took 
them. In the showcase was an assortment of American 
dollar watches. The price was $i.io. 

"Why not take one of those to tide you over?" he said. 

"Because, in our country," I answered, "the manufac- 
turers warn us not to pay more than $i for those watches. 
What is the extra ten cents for?" 

"To pay the tariff," came the prompt reply. "We need 
the revenue in Barbados." 

"So you believe in the tariff, do you, and you make our 
manufacturers pay?" 

"We have to, sir ; this is not a rich island !" 

"They are doing pretty well in Porto Rico," I ventured. 

"There's a reason for that," he fairly snapped. "You 
Americans are sending your capital there. You are making 
things go. We are standing still. I wish we could get you 
to put your capital here." 

I visited other stores, but found little merchandise of 
local manufacture. Since efforts have been made in Bar- 



I02 WITH SPI5AK]i:R CANNON THROUGH THE; TROPICS. 

baclos, as in other British colonies, to grow cotton, I looked 
for local cotton manufacturers, but found none. The dry 
goods on the shop counters came principally from England, 
Germany and the United States. American shoes were 
noticed, but the average native doesn't worry about shoes. 
They are a luxury, not a necessity. My solitary wanderings 
brought me into the market district — and life in these 
islands is nowhere so interesting as in the market place, 
where the dried fish and the dried onions hang in ropes, 
and the yams and small vegetables rest upon trays — and the 
ground. The usual crowd of onion-peeling, pipe-smoking, 
chanting men and women was assembled. At one inter- 
section they were thicker than usual, and I paused to learn 
the reason. The crowd was being amused. High above 
the sea of black faces was the towering form of our biggest 
passenger, Culgan, of New York, whom Sherman, because 
of his sunny nature, had immortalized as 'Xittle Willie.'' 
His arms were full of bundles and the perspiration was 
rolling down his cheeks in streams. Behind was Mrs. 
Culgan, also loaded down, and urging ''Willie" to keep the 
pathway clear. It was the bluff ejaculations of the husband 
and the sly "asides" of the wife that were doing the business. 
The negroes were having the time of their lives. 

"Hey, there !" yelled Little Willie, "keep away, can't 
you?" 

But they only closed in tighter. 

"Charge 'em, Willie," I suggested, and that was what 
he did. 

Puffing and snorting and using as strong language as 
the presence of his wife would permit, he elbowed his way 
through the cackling throng. Thus the three of us managed 
to get out again into the open. 

Bargain hunters from the ship were everywhere in 



the: ISIvAND of BARBADOS. I03 

evidence. Not to be outdone by the Widow, the ladies 
sought trinkets and bright colors. Some of them added 
to their supply of summer wearing apparel, for the hot 
weather was becoming more pronounced, but few managed 
to find anything they could not buy in the large department 
stores at home. About the only novelties were coral orna- 
ments and marine curios. Canes of sharks' bones and whips 
of the silk-cotton tree were among the specialties. In a 
department store that would rank with those of our eastern 
cities, at least in the variety of stock, I found the Speaker, 
with Loudenslager and others. The Speaker had doffed 
the familiar black slouch, and had taken on a small white 
hat, the like of which we had never seen before, but it 
suited the Speaker, and that settled it. 

Sherman, with ill-disguised pride, exhibited a dozen neck- 
ties of the most egregious colors, and Tawney, who was 
gradually acquiring the color habit, unwrapped a package 
that contained a lot of the loudest suspenders ever made. 

The prize purchase of the day, however, was made by the 
handsome Olcott, who strutted out of the store in a new 
crash suit, for which he had paid $2.16. He was waving 
the receipt to prove his statement. 

''Why, I never felt so comfortable in my life !" he said. 

As usual, there was a crowd of divers about the ship, 
anxious to exhibit their skill in catching coin before it 
reached the bottom. Loudenslager waved them off, for 
they were no longer interesting. 

'Xook here \" he exclaimed to one sleek, black native. 
''We've seen so many of you that we're tired, but if you 
will dive under this ship, I'll give you a dollar." 

It seemed an impossible undertaking, for the Bluecher 
was drawing thirty feet of water and was sixty-twO' feet 
across. The diver hesitated, but the dollar was a big prize. 



104 WITH sp^aki:r cannon through the tropics. 

and he said he would try. Bracing himself in his small 
boat and taking a long breath, he shot under water. We 
ran to the other side of the deck and waited. It was nearly 
two minutes before he appeared, but when he did, he shot 
out of the water as though fired from a gun. 

"You earned it," said the New Jersey representative, 
and the diver was applauded as he caught the dollar. 

The ship was now making ready for departure. I sat in 
the barber's chair, endeavoring to be genial to the German 
operator, when a burst of discord from the water's side 
broke up our conversation. 

''Donnervetter !" said the barber, as he rushed to a port 
hole. I left the chair and went to another. It was easy to 
locate the trouble. A native band had come in a yawl to 
serenade us. It was doing its best to play the "Suwanee 
River," probably as a compliment to the American tourists. 
Then they tackled ''Hiawatha" and "Home Sweet Home." 

"How is your imagination?" I inquired of the music- 
loving German. 

"Donnervetter !" was all he could say. 

Their concert finished, the musicians besought the pas- 
sengers to tell them of "Joe Walcott." They said he was 
born in Barbados, and they had followed his career as a 
prize fighter with loving interest. They thought it was due 
to "Joe" they should "treat his American friends right." 

At sea, that evening, I fell into a discussion with Col. 
Busbey and Mr. White, of Waterbury, on the subject of 
the tariff on watches. White, who is a large manufacturer, 
was insisting that it was a good thing for the American 
working man that American watches were sold abroad 
cheaper than at home. He explained that only those were 
sold that constituted a surplus over the demand for watches 
in America, and that if they were not so disposed of, factories 



THD ISIvAND O^ BARBADOS. IO5 

would have to run short-handed, thus throwing a proportion 
of the employees out of work. I listened to White's argu- 
ment, and then observed how adroit and careful the 
Speaker's secretary could be in such an emergency. 

"You know," said the Colonel, "the Speaker never had 
a watch which gave him so much satisfaction as the 
American-made watch he bought at the Chicago Fair for 
seventy-five cents. He always insisted that the watch kept 
good time and that it demonstrated the fallacy of the argu- 
men that the tariff upon the imported watches increased 
the price to the American consumer. During the last cam- 
paign, the Speaker, Mr. Sherman and myself were at the 
Congressional headquarters in New York City, when the 
Speaker found he had forgotten his watch and was unable 
to use it as an object lesson. The Speaker demanded 
another seventy-five cent watch. So, up and down Broad- 
way we tramped, visiting all the small jewelry stores, in 
search of a watch of the Chicago variety. Dollar watches 
and ninety-five-cent watches were offered, but the Speaker 
would have none of them ; he insisted upon a seventy-five- 
cent watch or nothing ; at last we grew tired, and Sherman 
pointed the way to a place where we believed a watch could 
be had for seventy-five cents. The Speaker got the watch 
and paid the seventy-five cents, but he didn't know that 
Sherman handed the jeweler the difference between the 
seventy-five cents and the actual cost price. Nor does he 
know it yet." 

White looked up into Busbey's face, then into mine, and 
drawing us both toward his stateroom, said : "That entitles 
you to an improved Waterbury," and we each got one. 



CHAPTER V. 

TRINIDAD. 

Looking for the Southern Cross — The Pitch "Lake" at La Brea — 
A Lonesome American Enterprise — The Orinoco and the Gulf of 
Paria— When the English Took Trinidad— The Tariff Plays Its 
Part — American-made Trolley Cars — The Negro and the West 
Indian — Coolies Who Grow Wealthy — Mohammedan Marriages 
and Customs — A Queer Barber Shop — "We are Prosperous in 
Trinidad" — The Governor's Rich Environment — Botanical Gar- 
dens and Public Parks — The Speaker and the British Maid — Poor 
Bargains in the Poor Quarter — Reception at the Union Club — 
McKinley and the President — A Reminder of Hamilton — On 
Board the Dreadnaught— "When Will You Build Two?" Said 
the Captain — Dinner at the Queen's Park Hotel — A Novel Menu 
Card — The Twining of the Flags — A Sad Message From Home. 

Bound for Trinidad ! It was two hundred and five miles 
from Bridgetown to the next stop. The delightful night run 
gave us a chance to investigate the story of the "Southern 
Cross." Dr. Woodbury, of Philadelphia, produced a book 
which told us all about this marvelous mystery of the 
Southern heavens. We imagined we saw the "cross," but 
our imagination was sorely stretched, for immediately as 
five stars in the accredited position across the northern coast 
of Venezuela were pointed out, some other observer would 
discover another five, and so it was difficult to determine the 
real thing. In the opinion of Gummere, of Trenton, who 
was to participate in one of the romances of the trip, the 
"Southern Cross" was not so much for astronomy as for 
gastronomy, since prolonged vigils with the stars of the 
Southern seas had been especially conducive to late suppers, 

1 06 



the: ISIvAND 01^ TRINIDAD. IO9 

and as Hancock, his chum on a subsequent occasion, re- 
marked, ''inducive to matrimony," because all the stars were 
as nothing to the one particular star from South Carolina, 
within whose lustrous sheen the lofty Jerseyman was 
basking. 

"Are you reading much?" asked a tourist of Speaker 
Cannon. 

*'I am reading the heavens," said Mr. Cannon. "Reading 
books is not a necessity." 

"Listen to a note of warning!" said Dr. Hough, as the 
party assembled on the after deck. "You fellows have 
tackled 'rum sizzles,' 'Scotch and sodas' and 'gin rickeys,' be- 
lieving they will alleviate your thirst and offset the effects of 
this climate ; you're taking a great risk ; my advice to you all 
is to drink nothing." 

"I have some advice, too," said Dr. Keely. 

"What's that?" said Eversman. 

"It will be hot to-morrow and dangerous to go out in the 
sun." 

"As for me," said Hancock, "I won't." 

In the morning we were again in sight of land. The map 
showed us to be but slightly ten degrees above the Equator. 
The sun looked threateningly warm. Crash suits, including 
the $2.16 brand, began to appear. We knew we were in for a 
hot day, but somehow the foliage of Trinidad was greener 
and more tropical than anything we had seen. We anchored 
first oft" La Brea Point, the site of the famous "Pitch Lake." 
From the sea it resembled a delightful picnic ground. The 
foliage was dense and inviting; a few buildings like boat- 
houses along a creek came into view, beyond a long pier 
erected upon high piles. 

The "experienced traveler" who had once stopped at La 
Brea said it was too hot and not worth the while. The 



no WITH spi;ake:r cannon through the: tropics. 

''observant woman" had never seen La Brea, but she knew 
what asphalt was and wanted to see where it came from. 
The ''learned traveler" told us La Brea, and, in fact, the 
entire island of Trinidad, was only a delta of the Orinoco 
River; that it was not volcanic and that the so-called pitch 
lake had no relation to the eruptions of Mt. Pelee. The 
"kicker" told us of the profit of the asphalt "monopoHsts," 
and added that the government and the contractors "stood 
together," though the system at Trinidad was better than in 
Venezuela, w^here the contractors or concessionnaires had 
been driven out by the government. 

The Speaker, the Senator and several others concluded to 
lounge on the breezy decks of the Bhiecher, while the rest of 
us inspected the lake. 

We noted first the cleverness of the representatives of the 
Asphalt Company in erecting their own homes, Filipino-like, 
above the piles of the long pier ; they were queer homes, but 
much cooler than those on shore. The superintendent, Mr. 
Bartlett, of Baltimore, admitted that long months of intense 
heat and extreme loneliness were not the best aids to health • 
and happiness. As our Southern statesman would say, it 
"was sure" a lonely place, but there was something familiar 
about it after all. On the boxes of correspondence we saw, 
as we passed the windows of the office, names that re- 
minded us of home — names that had frequently figured in 
the newspapers of New York and Philadelphia in connec- 
tion with asphalt matters. Among them was that of John 
M. Mack, a Philadelphian, and president of the company. 

A few frame houses along the shore, occupied by negroes 
who were receiving better pay than they could obtain in 
other parts of the island, made up the residential portion of 
La Brea Point. A road direct from the pier to the pitch lake 
was the only thoroughfare in the place, and this, consisting 



the: island of TRINIDAD. Ill 

of pitch, "as she is," gHstened in the sun and yielded to the 
pressure of our heels. Along the road, extending from the 
lake to the sea, a distance of a quarter of a mile, and rising 
all the way, extended an elevated cable, carrying on pulleys 
heavy buckets and barrels of asphalt from the lake to.the' 
ships. The ascent was a hot and tiresome one, and they 
had but one carriage at La Brea. 

But the "lake" ! Lake may be a fair name for it, but pity 
the man who should dare in such a place to "paddle his own 
canoe." 

"Show you the soft spots. Mister! Show you the soft 
spots !" The bright little colored fellows who constituted a 
part of the population of the place were ready to serve as 
guides, but indeed they were unnecessary. 

"What do you mean by soft spots ?" we asked. 

"Where they take out the pitch, Massa !" 

For a vast distance the shining black surface of the lake 
was hard enough to walk upon, and supported a moveable 
narrow gauge railroad on which cars were transferred from 
the "soft spots" over the main body of the lake to the boiling 
house. The digging out of the pitch was an operation simi- 
lar to the cutting of ice on a mill pond in winter. Groups of 
men with axes and scoops loaded the cars, where the pitch 
was working up from "the earth beneath," and thence it was 
taken to a boiling house where, after the simple process of 
reduction to a liquid state, it ran from a sluiceway, and was 
chopped into barrels by a giant negro who stood with his 
hand upon the stopper. As it hardens in the barrels the 
asphalt is shipped to various countries, but principally to 
the United States, where it is used for the improved pave- 
ments of the great municipalities. American capital operates 
the plant and controls the vessels used for transporting the 
product. The lake is worked on a concession from the Gov- 



112 WITH spi:ake:r cannon through the tropics. 

ernment of Trinidad, which receives a royalty of $i.6o a ton 
on the material taken out. It has been profitable to Trini- 
dad, but the lake, which some people have regarded as inex- 
haustible, is said to be decreasing in capacity. The super- 
intendent said that levels were regularly taken which showed 
a fall of seven feet in the surface of the lake since 1893. 

''How do you amuse yourselves in this place?" asked 
Mann. 

"Well, there's a tennis court around the reservoir, and 
that's about all," came the answer. "No, we grow pine- 
apples, and that's a diversion." 

Apart from the asphalt industry and the cultivation on a 
small scale of pineapples and bananas, there was little else to 
be seen at La Brea, but the negroes seemed to be happy and 
their children were going to a good school and receiving in- 
struction in English and French. 

The pilgrims were a warm and thirsty lot when they re- 
turned to the ship. The gallant "Uncle George" and a 
clever Englishman, who had located in New York, were 
quick to strike a table in the cozy cafe. The lake and the 
heat were the subjects of discussion. 

"Not much in the way of souvenirs at that place," said 
Uncle George. 

"Well I got one," said the Englishman, "I'm glad you 
spoke of it, too. I'd most forgotten." 

And diving deep into the pocket of his linen coat, he 
pulled forth a lump of pitch which had commenced to soften. 
Strings and bits of lint attaching to it, I ventured to remark 
that it was "a fine souvenir, a splendid thing, in fact, to put 
on the mantlepiece over an open-grate fire." 

"I guess not," was the serious response. "It would melt." 

In order to reach La Brea as early in the day as possible 
before going to Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad, 23 



THi; ISIvAND O:^ TRINIDAD. II3 

miles away, we had left the Caribbean Sea, and passing the 
Bocas de Dragos (Dragons' Mouths) had entered the Gulf 
of Paria. The gulf extends from the north coast of Venezuela 
above the Orinoco River, which empties into it through the 
''Serpent's Mouth" on the south, and is bounded on the east 
by the island of Trinidad. The course over the gulf from 
La Brea to Port of Spain was almost north. Senator Curtis, 
who had been reading up on the island, told us it was almost 
square; that it was very productive and contained about 
1,750 square miles. The distance to Venezuela was only 
about ten miles, Columbus is given credit for having dis- 
covered the island in 1498. The Indian name for it was ''the 
land of the humming-bird," but because of three mountain 
peaks, known as the Three Sisters, Columbus named it La 
Trinidad, after the Trinity. England came into possession 
of the island in 1797, taking it from the Spanish by way of 
reprisal after the latter had occupied it upwards of a hun- 
dred years. The story of the taking by the British was re- 
hearsed to us, and it had all the flavor of the stories of the 
privateers with which we were becoming so familiar. France 
and England having been at war prior to the English occu- 
pation, it was charged that the French Government of Mar- 
tinique encouraged privateering and that some of the priva- 
teers found refuge with the Spaniards in Trinidad. The 
English then swooped down upon Trinidad in 1797 with a 
fleet of eight men of war, two frigates, eight sloops of war 
and two transports, carrying 6,700 men and 900 guns, but 
before they had a chance to land the Spanish Governor 
ordered the destruction by fire of the Spanish fleet and then 
took to the hills. While the Senator was giving us this 
historical information we were steaming rapidly up the gulf 
to the capital, which the English had generously permitted 
to retain the old Spanish name — the Port of Spain. 
8 



114 WITH spe:ake:r cannon through the; tropics. 

We approached the city in a tropical afternoon storm. It 
rained fiercely, almost without notice, and ceased as quickly 
as it had begun. Because of the shallow water of the gulf 
we were obliged to anchor three-quarters of a mile from the 
city. At least a mile and a half beyond us was the great 
gray hull of a tremendous warship, which we afterwards 
learned was the English Dreadnaiight, the largest battleship 
afloat. A little nearer shore was another low gray vessel 
that looked very much like a fighter, which we ascertained to 
be the second-class cruiser Indefatigable. 

"This looks like business," said Loudenslager, who is a 
member of the Naval Affairs Committee. "These English- 
men know the game." 

"You seem to know yours," said Tawney, of the Appro- 
priations Committee, slyly, referring to the twenty millions 
just appropriated to the Navy Department for two battle- 
ships of the Dreadnaught size. 

The customary force of blacks swarmed around our 
vessel; the divers being reinforced by boatmen who seemed 
to be better organized than elsewhere, and who were in the 
business of rowing passengers ashore. 

"What depth of water have they in this harbor?" we in- 
quired of Mr. Handley, the American consul, a New York 
man, who waited upon us on ship. 

"Not very much," he replied, "for the big vessels are 
obliged to stand off, as you see ; the Dreadnaught is more 
than two miles out, but she has the desired effect ; the people 
are now agitating the question of a deeper harbor." 

We landed in launches. The harbor of Port of Spain was 
busy with the coming and going of vessels, there being a 
generous sprinkling of pleasure and fishing craft, the latter 
affecting the spreet and "mutton chop" sail. A conspicuous 
building with formidable gates and walls, near which we 



the: ISI.AND 01^ TRINIDAD. II5 

disembarked, admonished us that Trinidad had an up-to- 
date Customs House and that its officials were keeping care- 
ful check upon imports and exports. We passed in single 
file through the gates provided for the coming and going of 
the passengers of foreign countries. I asked Mr. Kirton, 
a young English gentleman who acted as assistant to the 
American consul, about the form of government, and he 
advised me that Trinidad was a Crown Colony; that all the 
affairs of its 250,000 population were controlled by the Gov- 
ernor appointed by the King of England, and that there is 
absolutely no political franchise. The advisability of ex- 
tending the right of suffrage had been considered, but Trini- 
dad had prospered as a Crown Colony, and the disposition 
was to have it so continue. 

Our coming had been heralded in Trinidad, for in addi- 
tion to the American consul a numl^er of Americans met us at 
the landing, including the son of Judge W. D. Guilbert, State 
Auditor of Ohio, who was one of our party. We were 
escorted through the long line of blacks to the Union Club 
of Trinidad, where a welcome was extended by its Vice- 
President, the Honorable Edgar Agostini, Attorney-General 
of the Island. From the balcony of the club, upon which 
Speaker Cannon, Mr. McKinley, Dr. White and others of 
our party assembled, we were enabled to overlook the busi- 
ness section of the city and to observe the varying character- 
istics of its people. The business men seemed to be on the 
move; trolley cars of American manufacture, which at once 
attracted the attention of McKinley, were running on the 
main thoroughfare. In the park below a number of wretched 
old men and women, with legs and arms as thin as baseball 
bats, were cutting grass with scissors and knives, making 
small bundles, which they offered for sale to the colored 
hackmen, who were noticed in great profusion on the 
highways. 



ii6 WITH spe:ake:r cannon through the tropics. 

*Xet us see the town," said Mann, of Chicago, after the 
Speaker had finished his chat with a group of officers from 
the Dreadnaught. 

"Don't want too much 'rum sizzle' on a day like this. 
Let us go see something." 

"Don't get too far away," put in McKinley. "The Gov- 
ernor is expecting us, and there's a trolley ride on an Ameri- 
can built road." 

"But look at the stores," said Loudenslager. "We must 
look them over." 

For an hour or so the party scattered; Mann and I, as 
usual, taking to the street, where we might see life as it 
really was. 

"The color line," said an intelligent white man whom we 
approached, "is not strictly drawn here ; the black man, 
whose intelligence and ability justify it, is admitted to the 
clubs and to the professions ; he goes upon the cricket teams ; 
he is found at public dinners ; it is only socially, and then not 
always, the line is drawn. The black man is not abused 
here, and therefore the question does not often arise." 

"But why do you have these battleships come into the 
harbor ?" 

"It is comfortable to see them once in awhile. We have 
had trouble in this island ; there was an uprising of the East 
Indians because of the alleged interference of the govern- 
ment with one of their religious celebrations, and there was 
a water riot in I903,when government buildings were burned, 
but we have good order now, and even the military has been 
released from service in the island. We depend upon our 
local police, and these are mostly black." 

We were now in the shopping district, where large de- 
partment stores, that reminded us of the great cities of home, 
abounded. The clerks were quick-witted and bright and 



THE ISIvAND 01^ TRINIDAD. II7 

appeared to be working on a commission basis. The prices, 
as Mann and I found, were no better, notwithstanding the 
boasted cheapness of EngHsh-made goods, than could be had 
in New York, Chicago or Philadelphia ; in fact, much of the 
stuff that would pass for souvenirs appeared to come from 
American cities; it had paid the tariff and was therefore 
bringing a good price, particularly so far as tourists were 
concerned. We were looking at some bracelets said to have 
been made by East Indian workmen, when there swept by 
two of the most gaudily attired women I have ever seen off 
the stage. Their loosely fitting garments, sweeping away in 
graceful folds, were highly embroidered in vari-colors. Their 
shapely arms and necks protruded through the drapery, re- 
vealing bracelets, rings, earrings and headwear which at 
first blush would appear to be cheap and tawdry; but the 
women were dignified and self-possessed, and we were as- 
sured that every piece of jewelry we had seen, including rings 
through the nose, the cheeks and the lips, in addition to gold 
and silver bands around the ankles, were of the purest 
quality that the keenest Indian experts could obtain. 

"The older woman, who appears to be the mother," I said, 
''must have at least a thousand dollars' worth of jewelry at- 
tached to her person." 

''Many of them," said a Creole clerk who had been showing 
Mann some linen handkerchiefs, "carry more than that. It 
is the custom of the people ; the husband puts all his earnings 
into jewelry and attaches his jewelry to his wife or his daugh- 
ter. Those women you have just seen are on a shopping 
tour ; they belong to a family of East Indians. They have 
prospered on a cocoa plantation, and are now the owners of 
much productive land purchased from the Crown." 

"But isn't it risky in a country like this for women to be 
abroad with so much wealth exposed as a temptation to 
thieves ?" 



Il8 WITH SPi^AKm CANNON THROUGH THI^ TROPICS. 

''They don't travel much at night time," was the answer, 
''and if they do, they are usually well accompanied." 

Mann and I pursued our inquiries further and learned that 
the East Indians are highly valued by the government of 
Trinidad. There are probably 100,000 of them on the island 
at this time, most of them working on plantations where 
sugar, cocoa and coffee are raised. 

The average American may be interested in knowing that 
these frail people, the subjects of Great Britain in India, 
were induced by the government to take up their homes in 
Trinidad, because of their superior qualities as workmen in 
the bush and the cane. The negroes of Trinidad, who have 
not the same inclination to work nor to accumulate wealth, 
are inclined to look down upon the East Indian. They 
apply to him the term "coolie," which is proper enough, since 
it stands for porter, but which becomes objectionable when 
used as some of the blacks are disposed to use it, as a term 
of derision. The terms under which the East Indian is 
brought to Trinidad and to some of the other British West 
Indies guarantee him a passage over, a house and medical 
care for five years, and a shilling a day ; he is also guaranteed 
a free passage home at the expiration of the five years, 
since most of them prefer to die in India, but if, for any 
reason, he fails to work out his five years' term — and he is 
a great lover of feast-days and an adept in law suits — then 
he is tried before a magistrate and is imprisoned, but the 
period of imprisonment does not lessen the period of in- 
denture. There are mmierous coolie settlements in Trinidad 
where the Mohammedan form of worship is followed, the 
people adhering as closely to their religion as they would in 
their home country. 

Since we had nowhere been impressed with the morality of 
the natives of the West Indies, for the marriage rite is 



the: ISI.AND 01^ Trinidad. 



19 



frequently forgotten, we were interested in the question as it 
affected the coolies. We found they married young, in fact 
their parents marry them before they know about it. It is not 
an uncommon thing, under their peculiar marriage rite, for 
coolie girls of seven to be joined to boys of from ten to 
fifteen years of age ; they are not permitted, even under the 
Mohammedan system, however, to keep house until the girl is 
about twelve and the boy fifteen. The law of Trinidad does 




EAST INDIAN TEMPLE^ TRINIDAD. 



not recognize them as married until the girl is sixteen and 
the boy eighteen; hence the lawful registration of actual 
marriages is a chaotic proposition. We were told that wife- 
murder was the most prevailing crime amongst the East 
Indians, and that it was due to the intensely jealous disposi- 
tion of the people, much of it, no doubt, arising from the 
parental agreements which the young lady and young gen- 
tleman, because of subsequent attachments, have no desire to 
fulfill. The favorite method of punishing infidelity is to 



120 WITH SPi:AK:eR CANNON THROUGH THE) TROPICS. 

completely dissever the head of the wife from the body. 
This gruesome performance is generally enacted by the hus- 
band with his inveterate long knife, similar to the Cuban 
machette, which he draws across the throat of the sus- 
pected spouse as she sleeps. 

Before returning to the club, where we were to assemble 
for a visit to the Governor, Mann and I, after passing 
through one of the native markets and counting up the bar- 
rels of American flour and dried fish we observed there, 
were attracted by a most unusual street scene. At a crowded 
corner, on three little boxes similar to those used by boot- 
blacks in America, sat three negroes, their feet in the gutter 
and their chins high up in the air. Squatting on the curb, 
with crude razors in their hands, were three coolies, each 
with his hand in the black man's hair, while he scraped away 
with the razor at the stubby beard. There was no lather, 
no brush, only a deft movement of the fingers, pushing the 
sharp blade upward, downward and across — no looking- 
glass, no tonic, no nothing. It was about as near nature as 
any savage of the primeval period might want it to be. 

'Xook," I said to Mann, ''look ! Did you ever see such a 
barber-shop ?" 

''That's nothing," was the laconic reply, "in some of these 
islands they break bottles and shave with the sharp edges of 
glass." 

It "being up to me," I escorted my objector friend to a 
nearby street fakir and purchased him a cake of native 
sorghum, mixed with peanuts — which, by the way, he very 
much enjoyed. 



"We are very prosperous in Trinidad." 
From what little we had seen of the business activity of 
Port of Spain, we were inclined to agree with His Excel- 




COCOA TREE, TRINIDAD. 



THE ISIvAND OP* TRINIDAD. 1 23 

lency, Sir Henry Moore Jackson, K.C.M.G., when, stand- 
ing in the center of the magnificent reception room of Gov- 
ernment House, he welcomed Speaker Cannon and our Con- 
gressional party in the afternoon. We had driven up in 
open carriages from the busy capital of the island ; had passed 
under the long lines of royal palm trees; had commented 
upon the prolific bearing of the cocoa plant, nestling in the 
moisture under the great forest trees, and had marveled gen- 
erally at the tropical beauty of our surroundings. Govern- 
ment House, a large and spacious structure, architecturally 
beautiful, rested in a great bank of ornamental trees, palms, 
ferns and shrubs at the foot of a range of hills, a half-hour's 
drive from Port of Spain. A great savannah, enlivened in the 
daytime by polo players and crack cricketers, and illumined 
at night by myriads of fireflies, stretched out from the 
grounds of the Governor's home like the great mall which 
reaches toward the Potomac from the White House. The 
savannah, we were told, was the great park of the populace. 
The King's birthday is celebrated there with pageantry, and 
other holidays, in which the island is not lacking, enable the 
people to enjoy its welcome lawn and attractive rural environ- 
ment. We had driven up to the port cochere, through a 
long lane of overhanging trees, the names of which were 
known only to the botanist, and were welcomed, after the 
footman had disposed of us, by as fine a specimen of the 
English soldier in uniform as we had ever seen. 

"The Governor's military aid, a Colonel in the regular 
army," we were told, and from first blush we were inclined 
to beheve it. The Colonel was most gracious, but most 
awfully formal, and the Speaker, who can be formal when his 
western constituency is not observing, swung his hat and 
bowed most gracefully. Following the Speaker, we were led 
through the tower room to a large ball-room, where Sir 
Henry and I^ady Jackson were in waiting. 



124 WITH spe:ake:r cannon through the; tropics. 

''You have a beautiful house and most attractive sur- 
roundings," said the Speaker. "You seem to have a firm 
hand upon the helm and to be very prosperous." 

"We are very rich in Trinidad," said the Governor. 

While the two distinguished men were talking, Lady Jack- 
son and a charming niece of the latter engaged the members 
of the party in descriptive talks. Reference was made to 
the ball-room floor which, it was explained, had been the 
scene of many interesting occasions, especially upon the 
King's birthday, when the populace came at the Governor's 
call. The smooth, glistening surface induced the Speaker to 
tell Lady Jackson of the dancing days in the Middle West, 
when the two-step was the popular thing. 

"I fear. Lady Jackson," he said, "the modern school would 
scarcely appreciate the two-step as we did it in those days." 

The Governor insisted upon our having a glass of wine, 
which led to further discussion of the Governor's personality, 
for we had learned that his experience had not been confined 
to the Island of Trinidad, but, as in the case of most of the 
other Crown Colony governors, had carried him to different 
parts of the world where the authority of the British 
Sovereign was to be exercised. It ma}^ not be accurate, nor 
polite, to tell it, but we were told that Governor Jackson. 
in addition to occupying the Government House with its 
beautiful botanical garden was the recipient of a salary of 
$24,000 per annum and that his authority in the island was 
supreme. The cocoa industry had been rapidly developing 
under his regime and the planters were in truth becoming- 
rich as he had indicated. A New York manufacturer of 
chocolate, who had large interests in the island, subsequently 
confirmed this statement with much gusto when he told of 
the increasing value of the cocoa bean and of the pains that 
were being taken to cultivate that product in sufficient 



the: island of TRINIDAD. 



125 



quantity to meet the increased demand for cocoa and 
chocolate the' country over. While the official tete-a-tete was 
on, Busbey, Mann and myself wandered into the gardens 
surrounding the house. We lifted a nutmeg from the nut- 
meg tree, a cocoa bean from the cocoa tree and a few red- 
pepper berries from the red-pepper bush. 

''Oh, what a country for a botanist!" said Mann, "and 
to think we have come to Trinidad, a little island in a far- 




SAMAN TREE AND PARK, PORT OF SPAIN. 



off sea, to learn how gardens should be made and how they 
should be sustained. Here they have it, while we in Wash- 
ington can't even secure sufficient appropriation to make a 
respectable botanical garden for the great Government of the 
United States. Look at the banyan yonder ; the royal palms 
and saman tree, famous among botanists ; and the beautiful 
eucalyptus !" 

"You had better tell it to Tawney !" said Busbey, and we 
walked back to say adieu to the Governor. 



126 WITH spe:aki:r cannon through tpie: tropics. 

Lady Jackson, dignified and courtly, was saying good-bye 
to the visitors; the Speaker having ended his talk with the 
Governor took her proffered hand and passed to the young 
niece. 

"Ah," said the Speaker, "I have seen so many beautiful 
young women upon this trip, I have been admonished I 
should take some of them home as my granddaughters." 

It was graciously said, but quick as a flash the young 
Britisher replied : 

"I'm afraid you're a jolHer." 

It was now Tawney's chance, the first real chance he had 
had since sailing under foreign flags. 

"Thank you, my dear young lady ; thank you most heartily 
for that Americanism." 

We drove back over beautiful white coral roads like those 
of Barbados, but fresher and cleaner in general appearance, 
through avenues of tropical trees and by residences of artistic 
construction. Then into "the poor quarter," for it was our 
desire to see more than one side of the town. Everywhere 
small shops prevailed, shops that looked no more like houses 
than the cheap shanties built by children on the sand dunes 
at the seashore; but in these frail structures, incapable of 
barring the rain, though certainly admitting streaks of sun- 
light, sat cobblers and peddlers, all black, selling their sticks 
of sugar-cane, their cocoanuts, their yams and their small 
vegetables. We passed a funeral on the way and like those 
in other islands it consisted of one hearse, bearing the coffin, 
with men, women and children trailing along behind in 
various kinds of attire. 

We noticed a crowd — though as elsewhere it is easy to 
attract a crowd in these islands — on one of the side streets 
and alighted to see what was going on. It was an auction 
sale; a hundred black faces were jammed in a small building 



the: island O^ TRINIDAD. 1 27 

not large enough to decently accommodate ten. A perspir- 
ing aiictioneeer, in true Yankee fashion, was reeling off the 
usual formula, beginning with "How much am I bid?" and 
he was pulling the bidders on in the same adroit, old- 
fashioned way. 

It struck me that prices were exceedingly high; I had 
never seen such old truck sold to such advantage; a wash- 
tub with a broken band went for forty cents ; an old lounge 
with disemboweled upholstery was sold for several dollars ; 
a broken rocking-chair with the seat hammered out started 
at a quarter and went up to sixty-five cents. I wondered 
whether it would not pay the junk dealers of New York 
to send a cargo of waste material to Trinidad; and then 
again, with the information that the laboring men of Trin- 
idad, just such men as I saw in that group, did not average 
in earnings more than forty cents a day, I wondered where 
the money came from to buy these expensive "luxuries." 

Returning to the Union Club we learned the members had 
arranged a dinner in honor of Speaker Cannon and desired 
us to be their guests that evening. We also found awaiting 
us various courtesies extended by business men and others 
who seemed to appreciate the arrival of the Speaker in their 
island. It was not unwelcome either that we should hear 
from the Salvation Army, whose Adjutant in Port of Spain 
advised us of the work that was being done by that universal 
band amongst the sailors of all nations who come to Trin- 
idad. Through this medium, we were informed, the men 
sent to Colon to work for the United States Government in 
1906 were recruited. The army had established a sailors' 
home, provided it with baths and other conveniences of an 
elevating character and was doing the same kind of work 
for humanity which we had observed it to be doing in the 
United States. 



128 WITH spi:aker cannon through the; tropics. 

The dinner at the Union Club, though hastily gotten up, 
was a delightful affair. There was more of the spirit of 
good fellowship which prevails in the United States at similar 
functions than we had found elsewhere. Attorney-General 
Agostini made a delightful little speech in welcoming the 
Speaker, dwelling particularly upon the development of the 
Island of Trinidad and of its desire to be on good terms with 
the United States. 

"We are a small people," he said, addressing the Speaker, 
''but even the dwarf may look up to the giant." 

Then he pursued the simile with a graceful reference to 
the powerful visitor who came, not for plunder nor for con- 
quest, but with tenderness and consideration and more 
especially with that good fellowship which marked the 
present visitation. The Speaker's reply was as broad and 
generous as the welcome. He complimented the people of 
Trinidad upon their progress, told of the development of the 
Caucasian race and what it was doing down near the 
Equator. 

"You toasted the King and the President to-night," he said. 
"The President in the United States stands there for what 
the King of England stands for in Trinidad and throughout 
the empire of Great Britain. The people after all are the first 
consideration; it is so with you as it is with us. We both 
say 'The King is dead, long live the King.' The people 
are sovereign whether under the British Empire or the 
government of the United States, for if your King Edward, 
strong and popular as he is, were to die, the Empire would 
go on just as the government of the United States would go 
on if there should be a change of Presidents." 

Then the Speaker struck the problem of the colonies : 

"The form of government is essential to the happiness 
and progress of the people," he said. "It is natural that every 



THE ISI.AND OF TRINIDAD. 1 29 

race should seek to mould and control its form of govern- 
ment, but that race is best fitted for the task which has first 
demonstrated a competency in the government of self." 

Throughout the speeches there was a vein of cordiality that 
greatly pleased the American visitors. The American Consul, 
Mr. Handley, with his Assistant, Mr. Kirton ; the Assistant 
Colonial Secretary, Mr. Gordon; the Collector of the Port 
and the prominent business men of Port of Spain were all 
there. Mr. Sherman, Mr. Tawney and I\Ir. Mann were 
amongst the speakers on our side. They complimented the 
people of the island upon their progress and found their 
addresses warmly reciprocated by the Trinidadans. One 
of the latter laid claim for the West Indies to Alexander 
Hamilton, the friend of Washington, and the great states- 
man and financier of the Revolution. 

Hamilton was born in the island of Nevis, British West 
Indies, in 1757; he was educated in St. Croix and began life 
as a clerk in a counting-house. He was looking higher, 
however, for in writing a schoolboy friend at the age of 
twelve, he said: 

"I contemn the groveling condition of a clerk to which 
my fortune condemns me, and would willingly risk my life, 
though not my character, to exalt my station ; I mean to 
prepare the way to futurity." 

We were reminded by the Trinidad orator that Hamilton 
was a remarkable boy and that before he left the West Indies 
he had mastered mathematics, chemistry, ethics, biography 
and a wonderful general fund of knowledge, being in addi- 
tion an excellent French scholar. We were consoled some- 
what, however, by the admission that ultimately Hamilton, 
while still a boy, had gone to New York, where he arrived 
in 1772, for a "better education." The Hamilton speech 
bound us all together and was followed by stories of Vene- 



130 WITH sp]?ake:r cannon through thi: tropics. 

zuela life by Robert Henderson, the American Consular 
Agent at Ciudad Bolivar, the historic city on the banks of 
the Orinoco. Henderson was largely interested in shipping 
between Trinidad and Venezuela and divided his time be- 
tween the two countries. 

An old-fashioned Five O'clock Club symposium concluded 
this delightful function, in the course of which it was 
mutually discovered that the people of the United States 
and the people of Trinidad were about as good as any other 
people who ever came together in social contact. 

That night, when the last launch left the Customs House 
dock for the Bluecher, it carried with it the farewell songs 
of the diners of Trinidad, waving their adieus from the 
wharf. It had been arranged at the dinner at the Union 
Club that Speaker Cannon and the Congressional party 
including Dr. White and Dr. Tiffany, should be welcomed on 
the Dreadnanght early in the morning. Promptly at the time 
appointed, a clever young lieutenant of the royal navy drew 
up alongside the Bluecher, prepared to carry the Con- 
gressional party over to the Dreadnaught hi one of its 
launches. There was scarcely a soul on board that did not 
envy that trip. Some minutes elapsed before McKinley 
brought the Speaker's party together, and even then there 
was scurrying about the cabins, because the English lieuten- 
ant was acting under orders and the time appointed with him 
"was the time appointed." 

What were we waiting for ! 

Ah, Tawney had not been found — yes, Tawney had been 
found, but Otto had not procured the right kind of fish for 
breakfast ! 

"Well, I guess we'll have to go," said the Speaker. 

So into the launch we got. The ride over the great stretch 
of gulf was quickly and pleasantly made. The Dreadnanght 



the: island of TRINIDAD. 



131 



had not looked so terrible at a distance, but she was becoming- 
more formidable each moment as we approached her. When 
the little launch drew up alongside, we realized we were 
running up against a nautical Rock of Gibraltar. Captain 
Bacon, Commander Evans and Lieutenants Moreton, Bart- 
tlelot and Legge welcomed the Speaker and party on board 




CANNON ON THE 'DREADNAUGHT/ 



this the greatest warship afloat. The}^ were so sorry, but the 
ship was not in best dress ; they had been taking on coal and 
the decks were dirty, but they would be glad to show the 
party over and give such information as courtesy demanded. 
What a monster ship it was! 17,900 tons; 530 feet of 
length over all ; on board at present 693 officers and men, not 



132 WITH SPEAKER CANNON THROUGH THE: TROPICS. 

quite the full complement; cost £2,000,000 or about $10,000,- 
000 in American money. 

The Speaker led one party, and Loudenslager, with a keen 
critical eye for naval construction, led another. 

"What is that great steel network along the side of the 
vessel ?" 

"A scheme to prevent boarding ; they are not telling about 
it," said the novice in our party. 

But the nautical man corrected him : 

''It's a new device to safeguard the ship against mines." 

Well, up we went into the conning-tower and down we 
went into the engine-room. Hot work on a day like this. 
Some of us thought we knew about machinery and the 
intricacies of naval construction — but some of us just 
imagined it ! 

''You have a great ship," said Speaker Cannon to the 
Captain, when at last we assembled in the ward-room for a 
bit of refreshment. "A great ship and you are to be compli- 
mented upon the excellent way in which you direct it. With 
all your electricity ; your warehouses ; your refrigerating 
plants ; your telephones from room to room and deck to deck ; 
your flower-gardens and your prison-cells, you have a city 
under your control. The ten million dollars spent upon this 
vessel would build a mighty good-sized Western town ; but 
Mr. McKinley, the host of this party, tells me that Mr. Sher- 
man is to make the speech." 

And Mr. Sherman did. He told about the relations that 
should exist between the two great countries and that pre- 
paredness for war was the sure guarantee of peace. He 
hoped the necessity to fire a single gun from this great ship 
would never arise, but if it should arise, he hoped it would be 
in the interest of humanity and civilization. It was a 
pleasing, satisfying personal speech which drew a few 
"Hear ! Hear's !" from the British officers. 



THK ISlvAND 01^ TRINIDAD. 1 33 

•''I don't mind telling you," said Loudenslager to the 
captain of the Dreadnaught, as we drew toward the gang- 
plank leading to our launch, ''that we will have two vessels 
similar in size to the Dreadnaught." 

"Ah," said the Captain, slyly, ''when?" 

We asked Loudenslager what the Captain meant hy this 
little dig and were told that the British had a way of building 
ships without telling everybody about it, whereas Congress 
usually deliberated over the plans in the United States until 
war was actually upon the country. 

On our return to the Bhicchcr we ascertained to our very 
great surprise that Tawncy had completed his breakfast 
and was waiting for the launch to take the party to the 
Dreadnaught. When advised that the visit was over and 
that we had obtained most of the secrets of the British Navy 
which we were not permitted to divulge, Tawncy's Ameri- 
canism became so intense as to be unprinta1)le. 

"Don't forget the trolley-ride at four o'clock," said Mc- 
Kinley, after a good dinner on the Blueeher. 

"Trolley-ride b'darned," blurted Tawney, "I want to buy 
some souvenirs." 

Just then a Hindoo merchant landed on the ship and 
spread his goods over a large portion of the deck ; silks, 
satins, embroideries, tablecovers, shawls and all kinds of 
fancy work in gaudiest colors. The temptation to go ashore 
early, however, was too strong and most of the party, after 
looking over the samples, left the ship for the hot streets of 
the city. A cablegram for Loudenslager caused a temporary 
flutter, for it brought information from home that an only 
son had been taken seriously ill. 

The American citizens began to assemble at the Union 
Club before four o'clock, accompanied by a wealthy Cana- 
dian, Mr. Gordon, who had invested heavily in the trolley- 
road recently built by Americans. Said he: 



134 WITH SPJtVKKR CANNON THROUGH THE: TROPICS. 

"W'e want to show you a little of the heaiity of Trinidad 
by day and the trolley, which is a new thing with us, presents 
the best method of showing off the city and its environment." 

Headed by the American manager of the Company, ]\Ir. 
Harding, and accompanied by several young electricians 
whose training had been acquired in lloston and New York, 
we examined one of the finest power houses it had been our 
pleasure to see and then started on a tour of the city. 
I was amused for a moment by a street scene which defined 
the attitude of the native negro toward the harder working 
and more thrifty imported East Indian. A negro boy had 
been annoying a coolie fakir. The latter was not inclined to 
respond and at first disregarded his tormentor. The boy 
persisted and was joined by (Others; then all the negroes 
raised the crv, "Coolie, Coolie, Coolie!" The East Indian 
turned and leered savagely, but showed no disposition to 

fight. 

Our ride carried us through the coolie villages, where the 
religious rites of the Mohammedans are scrupulously ob- 
served ; on by the leper hospital, in which Dr. Keely and the 
medical men of the ])arty took great interest ; through the 
fine residential district, and landed us ultimately at the beauti- 
ful mountain home of Mr. Gordon, the Canadian capitalist: 
P'ew houses of wealthy Americans exceed in architectural 
finish the house of J\[r. Gordon. It was new and somewdiat 
overdone in elaborateness, but it was finished in the hardest 
woods, including mahogany and lignum vit?e, planed and 
carved, as w-e were informed, by an American contractor who 
had first tried his luck in \^enezuela and had then made a 
success in working up hardwoods of Trinidad. We learned 
that while the native hardwoods had become an iniportant 
factor of commerce, American building lumber was largely 
in demand, not only in Trinidad, but in all the islands of the 



the: IST.AND 01? TRINIDAD, 1 35 

West Indies. Mr. Arthur H. Wight, one of our escort, told 
us that close business associations were maintained with New 
York and other American cities in the matter of limiber im- 
ports and exports. 

From the entertainment at Mr. Gordon's, where many of 
the party lingered longingly over a spacious blue marble and 
tiled l:)athing-pool, the Speaker's party was taken to the 
Queen's Park Hotel for dinner. Again the leading citizens 
of the island turned out in goodly numbers. The dinner was 
under the auspices of the American citizens of Trinidad. The 
American flag floated proudly side by side with the flag of 
England, and all the flora of the island seemed to have been 
borrowed to flank the sides of the room and to adorn the 
occasion. Among the guests, too, was Gordon Cummings, 
a retired oflicer of the l>ritish Army, one of whose brothers 
had been an intimate of King Edward and another of whom 
had become an American citizen, being then prominent in 
Washington society. The menu for the dinner would have 
done credit to the clever compositions of the bright lights of 
the Gridiron Club of Washington. The Americans upon the 
island evidently desired it to be known that they honored and 
respected the Stars and Stripes, and that they welcomed the 
Congressman of the great Republic. The menu card was 
printed in the national colors, which, with proper respect for 
the British emblem, predominated in all the decorations. The 
courses were devised to suit the American appetite, but there 
were certain native features intended to be novelties that 
were cheerfully accepted as such. "Ye Diner in playne 
Englyss terms, serven after ye style of ye Trinidad Foulke," 
came the first announcement, and then for the first course — 
after we had fully sampled the celebrated casheuu-nuts and 
had avoided the native red-pepper, came little oysters "from 
ye Pointe Pierre, eten by ye many in ye olde Toun of Port of 



136 WITH SPE^AKKR CANNON THROUGH THE TROPICS. 

Spain." Here was a problem, for we were in a hot climate 
and it was a question how native oysters would go. They 
were very small, much after the fashion of wild oysters at 
home, and smaller than bluepoints, but with an exceedingly 
fine flavor ; they were served up in dozens or as many as the 
plate, covered with cracked ice, would hold. Then came 
"soupe clere, made from ye turtle of ye Isle of Robinson 
Crusoe and ye thicke of ye tayl of ye Zebu oxe;" so we 
were informed Robinson Crusoe had actually settled upon 
the neighboring island of Tobago, which is under the juris- 
diction of Trinidad, and which now furnished the turtle 
along with the tail of the ox from which we were to have our 
soup. The Robinson Crusoe story was doubted, but there 
were those at the table who insisted that Daniel Defoe had 
actually located his hero upon Tobago and not upon the 
island to the west of the South American coast, as has been 
asserted by other authorities. The fish course came with 
this explanation, "Ye mightie fresshe grouper from ye depths 
of ye Boca Grande coked in ye white wine of ye Frenche," 
meaning that out of the mouth of one of the "dragons" giving 
entrance to Port of Spain the fish had come to be con- 
sumed with French wine dressing. "Water birds" were de- 
scribed as "Ye compote of ye wyld ducks from ye Caroni 
River," and, as epicurean Mann pronounced them good, we 
passed on to a new entree over which each visitor smacked 
his lips — "Punch of ye sour sop" — and as sour sop, white and 
flaky as iced whipped cream, came with all the aroma of 
flowers, we learned that sop was a native fruit from which the 
juices were extracted, though the fruit itself in its raw state 
is popular with the natives. "Solid fayre" brought on "Ye 
olde baronne of ye oxe serven with ye tomato salad from ye 
gardin of ye famous Hostilre Queen Park," and it was said 
the ox from which the course had been served was killed that 



the: island of TRINIDAD. 1 37 

day, a fact which did not altogether appeal to those who be- 
lieved in dieting upon meat cured longer and better than it 
can be done in a tropical clime in ten hours. 

In addition to these interesting courses, we were served 
with pheasants from the forests of "Ye olde countree" and 
"desserte" in the form of asparagus tips, dressed in "Ye 
Oyster Bay style." 

It was a novel and rare dinner, and when the Chairman, 
Mr. Harding, opened up the speechmaking, there were those 
at the table who were ready to admit that, after all, though 
nearly two thousand miles from home, there was 
little in the good fellowship of New York, Philadelphia or 
Washington that could not be found in the distant island of 
Trinidad. The King toasted and then the President, 
Speaker Cannon arose. Pie responded to the compliments 
of the Chairman and dwelt upon the foreign policy of the 
American nation. We had been through the Danish, the 
French and the English West Indies ; we were observing and 
taking notes ; we were ascertaining where governments were 
weak and backward and where they were strong and aggres- 
sive. There seemed to be much of the American spirit in 
Trinidad ; it was moving onward and forward ; its govern- 
ment was progressing upon an even keel. 

Then came Sherman, and oh, how the ladies who gathered 
at the entrance of the banquet hall applauded his finished 
sentences, as he took the two beautiful flags that floated in 
the electric breeze and twined them together in everlasting 
unity for the elevation of the human family. We passed out 
into the fragrant night, our pathway lighted by the stars that 
cast their golden beams through arborial hangings. It had 
been a long day of entertainment and sightseeing; the 
Speaker had been in active service for sixteen straight hours. 

We gathered on the deck, but for a sad good-night. A 



138 WITH spe:ake:r cannon through the: tropic^. 

second dispatch to Loiidenslager, received a few hours be- 
fore, had called him home. The word had been kept from 
us, and now, only as the long day's festivities drew to a 
close, we were informed that the son of the Congressman 
had been taken from him arid that the father had quickly 
boarded a steamer for a solemn week's journey to the bier of 
his bov. 



CHAPTER VL 
ve:ni:zueivA. 

St. Patrick's Day South — Magnitude of Venezuela — Cleveland and 
the Monroe Doctrine — Impressive Mountain Scenery — A Won- 
derful Railroad — The Hand-car and the Bull — Efforts at Com- 
mercial Expansion — Do We Understand Each Other? — President 
McKinley and the Manufacturers — A Sample Warehouse Experi- 
ment — Progress of Two Countries Contrasted — Mr. Cannon on 
South America — Solicitude for Castro — Venezuela Newspapers — 
High-sounding Titles. 

St. Patrick's Day fell upon Sunday. It found us sailing 
along the northern coast of South America, covering the 
distance of 350 miles from the Port of Spain to the Vene- 
zuelan port of La Guaira. It was a restful day upon the 
sea, but not without incident, for St. Patrick had his friends 
aboard, including the German steward, who generously 
decorated the dining-room in a gorgeous setting of green. 
The Rev. Dr. Tiffany conducted divine services in the 
afternoon, and everybody attended, including Tawney and 
Sherman, who led the singing. Their familiarity with "Old 
Hundred," ''Bringing in the Sheaves," "Pull for the Shore," 
and other old-timers — for there were no hymnals — excited 
universal admiration. 

"Like going to church in Danville!" the Speaker said. 
"Pm proud of you !" 

At dinner we celebrated the birthday of Mrs. Huntoon, 
of Providence, but Mann was not satisfied until proper 
recognition was accorded St. Patrick. Following the meal, 
therefore, he called the passengers to the after-deck, and 

141 



142 WITH SPEAKER CANNON THROUGH THE TROPICS. 

introduced the Rev. Dr. Davies, of Belfast, Ireland, to tell 
us about the Patron Saint. Dr. Davies had been making 
a tour of the United States, studying our penal institutions, 
and on his return expected to run for Parliament. He 
was a clever speaker, and talked about St. Patrick enter- 
tainingly. Referring to the seven cities that claimed Homer 
dead, "through which the living Homer begged for bread," 
the doctor said there were as many claimants for St. Patrick, 
including Germany and England. Finally, however, he 
traced St. Patrick to Wales, and fixed that country as the 
place of his nativity. The day wound up with the announce- 
ment by the Captain, that, to comply with the quarantine 
regulations at Panama, as applied to vessels sailing from 
Venezuelan ports, Jamaica would be visited before Panama, 
so that five days and nights might elapse to enable symptoms 
of yellow fever, if any existed on board, to develop. This 
would add two extra days to the schedule and cost the 
company about $6,000, but the Captain assured us it was 
nothing compared to the comfort and enjoyment of the 
passengers. "Ghoulish glee," as applied by an eminent 
Democrat to certain purveyors of ungenerous comment, is 
the term, I think, that might appropriately describe the 
sentiments of our friends, the quondam insurgents, when 
they heard the news. The suggestion that yellow fever 
might exist concerned them not. 

The next morning we were anchored abreast of La 
Guaira. The Speaker was the first man up. At 5 o'clock, 
when the sun was rising over the mountains of Venezuela, 
I found him leaning on the rail of the promenade deck, 
gazing in admiration at the scene before him. 

"Very pretty," he said. 

I readily acquiesced. La Guaira was like a toy thrown 
up against a hill. Its low, white houses, with their red-tile 



the: republic o^ ve:ne:zue:i.a. 143 

roofs, gleamed in the morning sunlight, and the harbor 
sparkled like a lake of diamonds. It was my first glimpse 
of South America, and I was awed. 

But what notion of the magnitude and resources of our 
great Southern neighbor have we, of the Northern Conti- 
nent? What of its history, its genius, its untold possibilities? 

**This," I thought, "is Venezuela — a tiny speck of it. 
What is Venezuela to the average citizen of the United 
States ? Only a second-rate Republic, where they "fleece 
investors" and "have a revolution or two a month." 

Did you ever stop to think that A^enezuela is nearly as 
large as the whole of Alaska ; that it is more than twice 
as large as the monster State of Texas? If you were to 
combine the areas of Texas, Maine, Massachusetts, Ver- 
mont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New 
York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and South Carolina, you 
would have a territory barely as large as the Republic of 
Venezuela. 

And Venezuela is only one small part of South America. 
Brazil alone is larger than the entire United States, exclusive 
of Alaska. 

In these South American countries they have their heroes 
and their poets, their soldiers and their statesmen, their 
artists and musicians, just as we have, and yet we know 
nothing about them. Germany, England, France, are names 
to conjure with! They mean something to us. They stand 
for institutions and peoples, for achievements, past and 
present, for future progress and development. 

Brazil ! Venezuela ! How empty they are ! How flat 
they fall upon the ear ! Abstract terms to assist us in 
arranging our knowledge of geography. Nor does geogra- 
phy tarry long with them. I was looking at one standard 
work, a geography used in many of our public schools, 



144 WITH SPEAKER CANNON THROUGH THE TROPICS. 

which dismissed the wonderful country of Venezuela in 
ninety-seven words — Venezuela, whose civilization is older 
than our own ! 

The wealth that lies buried in its soil is simply ines- 
timable. The minerals taken from it have merely been 
scraped from the top. As for fertility, anything can be 
raised in Venezuela that can be raised in the United States. 
Cofifee, cocoa and tobacco are now the principal agricultural 
products, but the natives are too busy with their wars, and 
rumors of wars, to be good farmers. They need the spirit 
and the energy of the people of the colder climate. But 
what of the history of this great country? 

After the discovery by Columbus, Ojeda visited the 
country, and found the Onotes, a tribe of Indians now 
extinct, dwelling above the waters of Lake Maracaibo in 
houses that were biiilt on piles. Their settlement reminded 
Ojeda so strongly of Venice that he named the country 
Estados Midos de Venezuela. The commercial house of 
Welsers effected the early settlement of the country in the 
sixteenth century. They operated under a charter from 
Charles V. 

The republic is traversed by the Colombian Andes and 
Maritime Andes, or Venezuelan Coast Range Mountains, 
below which are the plains, bordering the Orinoco and its 
tributaries, and the grass lands, known as llanos. The 
southern and eastern portions are unsettled and have 
been a prolific cause of controversy. 

Below the Orinoco River, and that district comprises the 
larger portion of Venezuela, the country is virtually a 
wilderness. Tribes of Indians wander there, and lions stalk 
about in mountain fastnesses. Castro's mighty hold upon 
the inhabitants above is little feared below the Orinoco. 
Grover Cleveland immortalized himself in Venezuela 



THE re:pubuc of vE:NE:zui:r.A. 145 

when, on December 2, 1895, he announced to Congress he 
had informed England that any movement to extend the 
boundary hue of British Guiana against the Southern 
Repubhc would be regarded as contrary to the Monroe 
Doctrine and hostile to the United States. It was a defiance 
foreboding war, but subsequently yielded to the happy 
influence of arbitration. A statue in the capital now attests 
the gratitude of the Venezuelan Republic to the American 
President. 

La Guaira is the principal seaport of Venezuela. In fact, 
it is the principal Atlantic port along the coast of South 
America, above Brazil. We were now in its harbor and 
prepared to go ashore. 

Already the weather was fiercely hot. We put on our 
thinnest clothes, but were told to take our coats, grips and 
umbrellas, for the Congressional party was not to return 
to the ship for two days, and must be prepared for anything 
that might happen. 

The American consul at La Guaira, Mr. Moffat, 
acquainted us with the surroundings. The large concrete 
breakwater which protects the harbor, we learned, was 
built by English capital, and was being paid for from a 
royalty on cargoes. The consul said that the United States 
bought more goods of Venezuela than all the European 
countries combined, and sent less in return. We take 
Venezuelan hides, coffee and cocoa, but flour is the principal 
commodity the Venezuelans take from us, and even now the 
Allis-Chalmers Company, an American concern, is equipping 
a modern flour mill at La Guaira, which, when in operation, 
will reduce these imports. 

On shore, the first person to greet us was the customs 
officer, the Comte Valery, a Frenchman, by the way, also 
military officer of the Venezuelan government. The 



146 WITH SPKAKE:r cannon through THE TROPICS. 

Venezuelans are strong on the tariff^ which is ''fearfully 
and wonderfully high/" but the country needs the revenue, 
and the tariff provides most of it. 

The crowd that quickly gathered as our train was being 
made up was swarthy-faced and sullen. Distrust would as 
nearly characterize their looks and movements as any other 
word. Their appearance was surely not that of happy men 
and women. When the mechanics worked, we were told, 
they commanded better wages than the West Indians, but, 
then, the cost of living in Venezuela was higher — surpris- 
ingly high, in fact, as we afterwards found. Most of the 
men were carelessly clothed ; their attire was not picturesque, 
for they affected neither sombrero nor colors. A half- 
sombrero, cheaply made, was worn, and ordinary straw hats 
were common. The feet were generally encased in the 
apagata, a sandal protecting only the sole of the foot. 
Nearly everybody carried the machette ; they worked with 
it and fought with it. I saw it used for peeling oranges, 
and then again for cutting timber. 

We looked at the towering mountains that start behind 
La Guaira (they are said to reach an altitude of 4,500 feet), 
and then at the train that was to carry us over them to 
Caracas. What a pigmy train it was ! The railroad was built 
by English capital — a tremendous engineering enterprise. 
Yes, and as we looked again at the mountains, the perils 
and the people, it seemed a mighty courageous one. The 
gauge was narrow and the cars were small, but the engines 
had been built for mountain climbing, and they proved 
Herculean. The distance to Caracas as the crow flies is 
nine miles ; in its twistings and turnings and climbings, the 
little road is obliged to traverse twenty-three. To complete 
the circuit at this distance, the skill of the l)ritish engineers 
was taxed. With what security from naval attack had the 




MOUNTAIN KUAD TO CARACAS. 



the: rd:public oi? vf^nkzuivi^a. 149 

founders of Caracas builded ! The capital of a country 
twice the size of Texas only nine miles from the sea, and 
yet, protected by barriers that hitherto had been well-nigh 
insurmountable! Bombard, ye foreign debt-collecting 
nations, the ports of Ta Guaira and Puerto Cabello, if ye 
will, but think well before ye send your armed hosts across 
the rugged peaks and depths that fortify Caracas ! 

But, we take the train. The track is six feet above the 
level of the sea at La Guaira. Then it ascends gradually 
until, at the summit, an altitude of 3,105 feet is attained. 
Then the train coasts down the other side of the range until 
it reaches the terminal, at Caracas, which is 2,984 feet above 
the sea-level. Five hundred mountain peaks reared them- 
selves as obstacles against this gigantic engineering feat. 

For wild ruggedness I never saw the like of the Venezue- 
lan mountains. They were irregular, impressive, majestic. 
Sherman looked them over, and then remarked : 

''With an invitation like this from nature, what wonder 
is it that people are insurrectionists? I marvel that it is 
possible to cjuell a revolution in such a country?" 

''You have hit the nail squarely on the head," said one of 
our escort. "There is no place in the world so well fitted, 
topographically, for revolution. Wilderness, such as you 
see there, prevails on every hand. An insurgent chief can 
organize a company of fifty or a hundred men, raid the 
farms and settlements, and then disappear. In those 
mountains there are many varieties of wild fruits and vege- 
tables, so that the insurgent has protection and a commissary 
wherever he goes. Clothing and fuel he scarcely needs. 
He lives in the open, takes care of himself, and fights like a 
wild beast." 

I wondered at the investment of foreign capital in such 
an enterprise as this marvelous little railroad, and learned 



150 WITH Sri^AKER CANNON THROUGH THK TROriCS. 

that various administrations of the country had treated 
differently the question of foreign commerce. Some Presi- 
dents, for instance, had encouraged trade intercourse more 
than others. Then there had come times when it looked as 
though the government was firmly established, and investors 
felt safe to come in. The spirit of investment, however, 
was not now strong. 

''You ask about the railroad?" said a well-informed 
resident. ''It belongs to Englishmen, but remember, it is 
located in Venezuela. If they had to build it over again, 
they probably wouldn't do it. The Government requires 
half the tonnage rate, so the rate is necessarily high. 
Freight from La Guaira to Caracas pays $8 a ton. The 
tariffs imposed by A^enezuela are enough to stifle most 
industries. Shoes, for instance, pay a tariff of $2.40 a 
pound. That is prohibitive. On the other hand, agriculture 
is suffering. There are no large operations. The farmer 
is getting along from hand to mouth. Coff'ee, the great 
staple, is bringing poor prices, and the planter fears to go 
ahead. Tariff's, therefore, are the principal revenue pro- 
ducers. And vet the country is rich. Xature has given 
us resources, the end of which no man can tell. We can't 
develop them without foreign labor and foreign capital, 
and neither will come without protection." 

The heat in the little car was becoming oppressive, and 
as ]\Ir. ^loffat, the consul, was coming my way, I asked : 

"Does it ever get cold up here in the mountains?" 

"Oh, yes, very cold." 

"How cold?" 

"Well," came the answer, very deliberately, "sometimes 
as low as 70 degrees." 

The farther we went on the La Guaira and Caracas 
Railwav, the more inspiring became the scenery. We 



TTTiv RivruBUc OF vl:nivzui<:i,a. 153 

were dragged by the side of precipices 1,500 feet deep. It 
made one shudder to look from the window. One moment 
we would see a crag extending perpendicularly hundreds 
of yards above ; the next, it would seem we were in a 
balloon, with all the world a dizzy way below. 

An old mule road, that once provided the only communi- 
cation between Caracas and La Guaira, pursued us all the 
way, now so near we could hear the crack of the muleteer's 
whip, and again so far the entire pack appeared but a speck 
on the mountain side. What if the spirit of enmity should 
induce the native to drop a boulder from yonder over- 
towering crag, or tie a rail across the track beside the 
precipice ? 

In a little while, with many curves and twists, we com- 
pletely lost our sense of direction. The curves were so 
pronounced that horseshoes grew to circles, and circles 
grew to eights. We doubled and crossed, until the quiet 
voice of the amiable McKinley was heard, above the puffing 
of the engine : 

"To go, to come, to say good-bye ; 
To meet 3^oiirself, to lose yourself, 
That is the question. 

To travel on a single track. 

To turn around and see your l)ack — 
B'hanged if I can sometimes tell 
Which way we're going — to Heaven or ." 

Mr. McKinley did not complete the sentence, for we 
were approaching what looked like an abyss of eternity. 

''Don't you have landslides?" he asked an officer of the 
road. 

"We had formerly, but don't now — in fact, we never had 
an accident worth mentioning." 

"What do you mean by formerly ?" 



154 WITH srKAKi^R cannon tiiroitgh the tropics. 

''Before we straightened the road." 

"Straightened the road?" exclaimed the surprised 
McKinley. 

"Yes, sir; you should have seen it when we started. It 
was crooked for sure then !" 

"Great Scott !'" said McKinley, adjusting his hand to 
his forehead. 

But a new sensation was coming. We were drawing up 
to Zig Zag, a station half-way to Catia Bridge, the summit, 
when a hand-car, driven by an English gentleman, who was 
accompanied by a little girl, came flitting in and out of 
the mountain passes. Evidently, they were coasting — and 
enjoying it. First they were off our right, then off the left, 
then we would lose sight of them. It never occurred to us 
they were coming our way, but, by and bye, they came 
round from some new direction and landed in front of us. 

The gentleman stepped off and introduced himself as 
Mr. Almond, the manager of the railroad. And a jolly 
good fellow he was ! It was a daughter who came with him. 

"I'm making a railroad woman of her," he said. 

"That hand-car ride looks a little risky," said Sherman. 

"It's all right," was the witty reply, "if you don't strike 
anything. But we did have a close shave yesterday." 

We pressed the manager for his story, and, minus the 
rich English accent, here it is : 

"We employ natives for track work, and yesterday I sent 
one of them down alone on the hand-car. He was going 
about forty miles an hour when a bull got on the track. 
By some chance the bull, and not the car, was thrown. He 
went clear over the chasm. It was fortunate for the man, 
don't you know, for to leave the track under such circum- 
stances is devilish uncomfortable. When the man returned, 
he reported to me. The joke of it all was in his report. 



TTIK RICPUHUC 01^ VJvNIvZUKr.A. 



55 



He feared the death of the bull would lead to an action for 
damages. I asked him for the truth. He confessed the 
rate of speed at which he was going, and said the bull came 
upon him suddenly. 'The bull,' he said, 'stood on the track 
and showed fight.' 'And what did you do?' I said. 1 put 
out my foot,' said he, 'and tried to push him off.' 'And 
what then ?' said I. 'He wouldn't budge,' said he, 'so the car 
came along and hit him.' " 

We learned from :\[r. Almond that the coal briquets we 
noticed at some of the stopping places were imported from 
Cardiff. It was the easiest way to get fuel for the railroad, 
although there was doubtless an abundance of it in Vene- 
zuela if once opened up. In common with others, he 
glorified the natural advantages of A^nezuela, but deplored 
the unwillingness of investors to enter the field. 

Rudolph Dolge, the former American consular agent 
at Caracas, who had been engaged in development enter- 
prises, added materially to our fund of information. 
Stability of government, he insisted, was Venezuela's 
greatest need— a government that would insure protection 
to foreign capitalists who would come in and join Venezuela 
in opening up her natural resources. I am aware that the 
views of consular agents, or former representatives of the 
United States who combine business with their offfcial 
relations to countries in which they locate, may not always 
be free from personal bias or interest, and that we some- 
times suffer at the hands of our undiplomatic and too- 
aggressive business representatives, but I was impressed 
by Mr. Dolges' statement. He spoke German and Spanish 
fluently, and had located permanently in Caracas, being 
associated with the Orinoco Corporation. His appearance 
on the train recalled to my mind one of the real practical 
movements to establish better commercial relations between 



156 WITH SPKAKIXR CANNON THROUGH THi: TROPICS. 

the United States and South America — a movement under- 
taken by the National Association of Manufacturers under 
the direction of a distinguished Philadelphian, who was 
then its president, long before the organization of the 
Department of Commerce and Labor, which now, with the 
aid of the Department of State, is charged with the work 
of promotion and development. 

We had never understood the commercial question in 
South America as other nations understood it. From the 
time of President Monroe, our dealings with South America 
had been largely individual, and the Government had stepped 
in only to sustain the national dignity and enforce some 
claim growing out of the action of individuals residing or 
trading there. With Venezuela, in particular, we had dis- 
puted about claims arising from the acts of citizens of the 
United States in Venezuelan territory. It was claims, 
claims, claims, through successive national administrations. 

Because of something done by Venezuelans to persons 
claiming American citizenship, we usually kept the Southern 
Republic on the debit side of the ledger. Perhaps they grew 
to misunderstand us, and perhaps we didn't take the trouble 
to find out! At any rate, we didn't do the business with 
Venezuela and South America generally that we ought to 
have done, and it fell to Mr. Blaine, as Secretary of State, 
to endeavor to establish better relations. 

To most of the travelers, now entering the country for 
the first time, the vast population of South America and 
its tremendous area were matters of wonderment. Why 
had we not long since drawn closer to our Latin-American 
brother? And why had we permitted England, Germany 
and France to so largely control this commerce upon 
American soil? 

To me the question was not new, for there had been 



the: republic of VENEZUELA. 157 

established in Philadelphia, several years ago, an institution, 
the purpose of which had been to foster by practical 
methods this very trade — the Commercial Museums. It 
had brought within the reach of the American merchant the 
necessary samples and data concerning countries, climates 
and conditions. I recalled the many conferences of dis- 
tinguished representatives of South American Republics 
under the auspices of the Department of State and of the 
Commercial Museums and the founding by the nation of 
the Bureau of American Republics, now under the direction 
of the Honorable John Barrett. I also remembered how 
the merchants and manufacturers of the United States had 
knocked at the door of Congress until 1903, when for the 
first time they secured recognition at the cabinet table of 
the nation through the creation of a Department of Com- 
merce and Labor. It was only when the bureaus of the 
various departments that had to do with the development 
of commerce and manufactures were welded together in the 
Department of Commerce and Labor, that there had been 
a national advancenient on practical lines to improve our 
foreign commercial conditions. 

The "home market" had not the mystic significance 
when the bill creating the Department of Commerce and 
Labor was under discussion, that it has to-day. We were 
recovering from a period of commercial depression in the 
United States, concerning which, in an address to the 
National Association of Manufacturers, in "January, 1898, 
President McKinley said : 

''This great country cannot be permanently kept in a state 
of relapse. I believe we will re-occupy the field temporarily 
lost to us, and go out to the peaceful conquest of new and 
greater fields of trade and commerce. The recovery will 
come slowly, perhaps, but it will come, and when it does, 



158 WITH spe:aker cannon through the tropics. 

we will be steadier and will better know how to avoid 
exposure hereafter." 

The lamented McKinley had reference chiefly to condi- 
tions prevailing in the United States, for, referring to a 
visit of the Manufacturers' Association to him while 
Governor of Ohio, the previous year, he said : 

"I well remember that occasion. It was a cold, cold day. 
You had lost everything but your pluck, or thought you had. 
Courage was the 'only friend your grief could call its own.' 
I note with satisfaction your improved appearance now. 
You are more cheerful in countenance, more buoyant in 
spirit, more hopeful in manner, and more confident in 
purpose. * '•' * But your object now, as I gather it, is to 
go out and possess what you have never had before. You 
want to extend, not your notes, but your business." 

Whether it was the inspiration of this speech or not, 
there developed, about this time, in the minds of Theodore 
C. Search, of Philadelphia, President of the National Asso- 
ciation of Manufacturers, and of his associates, the belief that 
the time had come when American products should be more 
generally dispensed abroad. The Association had been 
struggling to establish a Department of Commerce and 
Labor, but Mr. Search had been a student of conditions 
prevailing in our home market and of those prevailing 
abroad, and he believed then, as most of the American 
consuls sending commercial reports to this country believe 
now, that something more substantial than letter-writing or 
circularizing; that something more lasting than the hurried 
call of the strenuous American drummer, should be done 
to interest the untold millions of possible customers in our 
methods and manufactures. Mr. Search and his associates 
knew that the Chinaman wanted cotton woven in sizes to 
suit his own tastes. Pie knew the South American pre- 



the: rispubuc o? vknezue^la. 159 

ferred the sombrero style of hat to the American derby. 
He knew the inchnations and the prejudices of the peo- 
ples of foreign countries must be indulged, if we were 
to do trade successfully with them. He knew these 
things to be the secret of the commercial triumph in South 
America of England, Germany and France, and, so believ- 
ing, the National Association of Manufacturers, under his 
direction, undertook, in March, 1898, to establish in the City 
of Caracas a sample warehouse under z\merican auspices, 
where might be seen by the natives the product of American 
artisans and manufacturers. It was a bold undertaking. 
It cost an enormous sum of money, but, welcomed by the 
then President Andrade, the enterprise began under favor- 
able auspices. A large party of United States manu- 
facturers, from all sections of the country, made the trip 
to Venezuela, and joined in the exercises, which promised 
to establish friendly commercial relations between Vene- 
zuela and the United States, and which induced the foreign 
powers to bestir themselves against a possible peaceful 
invasion by their American competitors. About the same 
time, the same association, on the same inspiration, opened 
up a sample warehouse in China, but the compHcations 
arising from prevailing customs at so remote a point soon 
caused its abandonment. 

American houses, through the Caracas warehouse, 
obtained large orders and established new trade connections 
(some of which still exist), but strong as had been the 
inception and harmonious as had been the relations between 
the American manufacturers and the Venezuelan Govern- 
ment, the changing conditions of the latter, and the growth 
of the American home market, resulted, finally, in the failure 
of the enterprise. The Rudolph Dolge who boarded our 
train, and, whose presence induced these observations, was 



i6o ^^'ITH speake:r cannon through thp: tropics. 

the same Dolge who nme years before had acted as agent 
for Mr. Search in the bold, but eminently practical, attempt 
to reach the trade of South America through a sample 
warehouse in Caracas. 

The incident is valuable to those inquiring into the com- 
mercial situation. Hundreds of reports to the State Depart- 
ment and the Department of Commerce and Labor give 
excellent advice as to what American manufacturers ought 
to do to encourage foreign trade, but there have been few 
practical attempts to properly encourage and develop it. 

In upholding the American protective tariff system, I had 
often heard Speaker Cannon say that the American home 
market consumed ninety-five per cent, of the American 
product, and that the five per cent, we sent abroad, though 
comparatively small in its relation to the entire production, 
still made us the greatest exporting nation in the Avorld. 
Here, then, was a reason for the slump in commerce with 
the South American countries. The greater number of 
manufacturers and producers in the United States are too 
well satisfied with the home market to devote their time 
and energy to its extension abroad. From reports and 
inquiries, we knew that in many places American goods 
were preferred before all others. Our plows, our harvesting 
machines and agricultural implements had displaced the 
wooden implements of the natives in South America, in 
Europe, Asia and Africa. Our sewing machines were 
sought in South America before those of any country. 

Our shoes had gone into all countries, and in most coun- 
tries were counterfeited, the shams being labeled "Made in 
America." Even our own political methods, as affecting 
the protection of our industries, had been seized upon the 
world over. Witness the prohibitive tariff of Brazil and 
the export duty on Brazilian coffee; the duties imposed 



THE re:pubuc of ve:ne:zue:i.a. i6i 

upon imports by Venezuela, even, apparently, to her own 
detriment ; the protective duties of Germany, of France, and 
of so-called "free-trade England," both at home and 
throughout her colonies ; all these things were forceful 
object lessons. They helped to^ make us better satisfied, 
better content that we were citizens of the United States. 

Ten years ago in the United States, where were we? 
We had emerged from one of the crudest depressions of 
our industrial history, and had voted $50,ooo,ocxD to conduct 
a foreign war. Since then, what? The greatest commer- 
cial and financial development ever known, with peace at 
home and foreign relations unimpaired. Ten years ago, at 
Caracas, we drove the wedge for commercial supremacy 
in South America. The Venezuelan Government welcomed 
it. Since then, what? A republic rent with revolution, 
its constitution changing at the whim of the ruling power! 
A country rich and more productive than ours, with a rest- 
less people unwilling or unable to develop it — waiting, 
simply waiting, knowing not what to-morrow will bring 
forth. Change places with them? I trow not! 

Far away in the mountains stretched a cafion that looked 
as though the foot of man had never desecrated it. Wild 
mountain streams leaped and sang in their precipitous beds, 
and wild goats fled to the loftier altitude. But down by the 
casas and vegetable gardens the goats were domesticated 
and their milk was preserved, for there were children to be 
fed in this mountain country. 

I was drawing the line between contentment and fear, 
between progress and idleness, between the doing and 
the leaving undone — in fact, I was throwing a few bouquets 
at the policies that have made the United States so prefer- 
able to other countries, and the Speaker was attracted. He 
lifted his eyes from the barefooted women, who were 



i62 WITH spkake:r cannon through the: tropics. 

rubbing away at their wash in the rocky tub of the tropics, 
and, laying his hand upon my shoulder, said : 

''The United States is a mighty prosperous country and 
we're doing tolerably well We have seen how some people 
go backward. We've got to keep going the other way." 

The Speaker had not talked very much, thus far, and it 
was not our intention to urge him, but the South American 
question seemed to appeal to him, and he let go briefly what 
was passing through his mind : 

"South America," he said, "is a great continent, the home 
of many republics modeled after our own. Their paper 
constitutions are as safe guarantees of a broad-minded and 
liberal people's government as is that of the United States, 
but paper constitutions do not always make good govern- 
ments. Mexico and Venezuela, for instance, have liberal 
constitutions like our own, but the governments are very 
much unlike ours. Mexico has absolutism but stability 
because of the conservatism, wisdom and courage of 
President Diaz. Venezuela has revolution and her great 
resources are undeveloped because whatever confidence 
there is in the policies of President Castro is practically 
nullified by the uncertainty of his administration and the 
precarious state of his health. It is questionable whether, 
in the event of his death, the "government would still live" 
as he had planned it, or as it did live in the United States 
after the death of Lincoln and of McKinley. The situation in 
Venezuela to-day presupposes a revolution should Castro 
die, and as revolution means insecurity, foreign capital is 
necessarily backward in finding investment. You will 
remember how slight was the interruption of government 
in the United States, almost imperceptible, -in fact, when 
the reins which had been dropped by McKinley at Bufifalo 
were turned over to Roosevelt. Could such a thing be 



THE REPUBLIC 01^ VENEZUELA. 



63 



possible in \>nezuela, where the constitution is modeled 
after our own, who can say that capital would not rush 
madly into that country for the opportunity of opening up 
its cherished, but dormant, resources? Government, after 
all, rests directly on the people, and until the people can 
govern themselves, constitutions and laws are of little avail. 
We may legislate all we please, but statute laws would be 
a dead letter unless they represented the spirit of the people. 





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INDIAN VILLAGE, VENEZUELA. 



Pan-Americanism will help along the development of South 
American Republics, and a closer relationship is desirable, 
but little in the way of financial assistance can be expected 
by any South American republic which fails to maintain a 
governm.ent that can enforce the laws and inspire confi- 
dence." 

Near the end of our panoramic mountain climb the Caracas 
papers reached the train. They were printed in Spanish, but 
the Speaker's arrival was duly chronicled under the head- 



164 WITH speake:r cannon through the tropics. 

lines, 'Xos Excursionistas del Bluecher." The news columns 
generally were devoted to speculation about Castro. It 
was clear the President's illness was a cause of great 
concern. "Hosanna ! Hosanna!" ran one double column 
heading, over an article predicting the recovery of "the 
Presidente." "Castro en Caracas. La onda popular 
delirante. El sentimiento de los pueblos," were headlines 
over another article, in which the felicitations of corre- 
spondents on the reported recovery were being recorded. 
But there was mystery about the actual whereabouts of the 
"Restaurador" and many rumors as to the nature of his 
malady. To these, and the uncertainty of government in 
the event of Castro's death, much of the country's sup- 
pressed excitement was due. "Gomez is organizing and 
ready to strike," someone would say. "If Castro dies, there 
will be an immediate uprising," said another. "It's a 
waiting game !" and so on. But it is only just to the people 
of Venezuela to say that many of these comments did not 
come from the natives of Venezuela. 

On all subjects affecting their President, their leaders, or 
their form of government, the average native, whether from 
fear or ignorance, was almost as taciturn as the proverbial 
clam. 

But, while the Caracas papers were full of Castro, they 
were not ungenerous to the Speaker and his party. The 
more we deciphered the things that were said about us, the 
more we thought of ourselves. Evidently for reasons of 
a fraternal nature, Los Sinores Busbey was accorded highest 
honors. The reporters denominated him "Director of the 
administration of the Northern Republic." Speaker Cannon 
was ."Chief Minister tO' President Roosevelt;" Sefior 
"Jawney" (and we all appreciated the typographical error 
so keenly that "Tawney" for a time became a memory) 



THE RKPUBivic 01^ ve:ne:zue:ivA. 165 

was ''Great High Potentate of the West ;" Senor Mann was 
''the Controller of the House of Representatives ;" Seizor 
McKinley, "the Lord High Chancellor," and so on. But 
the oddest reference fell to the bachelor, Eversman, who 
was credited with a "Senora," very much to the consterna- 
tion of McKinley. This liberal bestowal of high-sounding 
titles afforded much amusement. It recalled to me this 
story of the strange experience of the late Judge Clayton, 
of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, a brother of General 
Powell Clayton, Republican leader of Arkansas and former 
Ambassador to Mexico. The Judge was tall and dignified, 
but unconventional. His wife and he were great travelers, 
and, on one occasion in Europe, engaged a German guide, 
who, greatly impressed by the Judge's personality, began 
to ask questions. 

"You are a judge, sir?" he queried. 

"Yes, a chancellor in equity." 

"A chancellor!" ejaculated the guide, opening his eyes 
wide and starting back. 

"A chancellor in equity," corrected the judge. 

'"Yes, yes, I understand," said the guide, bowing low ; 
"Chancellor !" 

Thenceforward he was all salaams. In due course they 
reached Berlin. The guide was now bubbling over with 
excitement. He conducted the Judge and his wife to a 
magnificent equipage drawn up at the entrance to the 
station, and, with outriders galloping along before crying 
"Make way! make way!" they were hustled to the leading 
hotel. As their carriage dashed up to the curb, there was 
a blare of trumpets and a squad of attendants in double line 
across the sidewalk. A broad strip of velvet carpet had 
been laid over the pavement, so that the shoes of the Judge 
and Mrs. Clayton might not be soiled. 

In a maze of bewilderment, they suffered themselves to 



l66 WITH SP^AKE:r cannon through THi: TROPICS. 

be escorted into the hotel, observing that the bellboys wert 
drawn in a line to the elevator, bearing candles. Then 
they were shown to the suite that had been engaged for 
them. The sumptuousness of it aroused the Judge, and, 
grabbing the guide, he demanded to know what it all meant. 

"Everything has been arranged, sir," said the latter, with 
a low bow. "You will find your suite in readiness." 

"My dear," said the wife, "I'm sure there has been some 
mistake. What do we want with a flat like this?" 

"I'm going down-stairs to find out," thundered Clayton, 
but he was intercepted by a dozen bowing, scraping flunkeys, 
who assured him they were there to do his bidding. They 
could not hear of his taking upon himself any labor, no 
matter how trivial. 

"Much obliged!" said the judge, "but I'm not going to 
be carried around like a French poodle any longer," and, 
brushing past them, he hurried downstairs. 

His appearance in the corridor created a stir. The guests 
crowded around to get a look at him, and the clerks turned 
pale for fear the distinguished guest had come to make 
complaint. 

"Is anything wrong, sir?" one ventured to inquire. 

"There certainly is something wrong !" was the response. 
"I want to know why everybody is playing horse with me?" 

"Playing horse ! Playing horse !" echoed the clerk 
dubiously. "I beg Your Excellency's pardon, but I don't 
know the meaning of 'playing horse.' " 

"Your Excellency! What do you mean by that? Why 
do you call me Your Excellency?" 

"Oh, Your Excellency!" said the clerk, now trying to 
smile, "I'm afraid you can no longer travel incognito in 
Germany. Your guide has told everything. We know you 
are Chancellor of America — the Bismarck of the New 
World!" 




STREEIT SCe:NE;, CARACAS. 



CHAPTER VII. 

CARACAS. 

The World is Small — Waiting for the Revolution — Discovery of a 
Chess Player — Antiquity of Things — Venezuela and the Grafters 
— Caracas and Northern Cities Compared — Northern Energy and 
Southern Lassitude — A Formal Reception — The Palace of Crespo 
— Mann and the Guide — Bolivar and Washington — Sampling the 
Food — Attractions of the Capitol — Glorification of Warriors — 
A Hero Dethroned — Visit to the Pantheon — Dinner at the Ameri- 
can Minister's — Night Scene on the Plaza — Speaker Received at 
the Yellow House — Castro Sick and in Seclusion — Sherman's 
Midnight March — Asleep in the Chapel — The German Railroad — 
A Surfeit of Scenery — Lunching Under the Bamboo Tree — Inci- 
dents of the Ride to Puerto Cabello. 

After all, the world is very small, and its ways, in differ- 
ent times and places, are very like. Thousands of years 
before the Christian era the wisest King of all history, he 
who found that *'all is vanity" and that "one generation 
passeth away, and another generation cometh," told us also 
"there is no new thing under the sun." If what one sees 
in far-off Venezuela hath the appearance of being new or 
strange, one has but to remember the proverb, and, if in 
Venezuela, or any other earthly spot, remote, romantic or 
forbidding, he shall flatter himself, no other eye shall see, 
save that of "Him who seeth all" let him beware. Let him 
not overlook the unseen wireless chord — the magic spark 
that flashes in the heavens above and in the earth beneath. 
But most of all, let him not once forget the omnipresent, all- 
informed and all-informing representative of the great 
American newspaper. At every place we found him, but, 

J 69 



170 WITH spe:ake:r cannon through the tropics. 

least of all, had we expected to find him in distant Venez- 
uela. 

"It was a little dangerous to go to that show, so I took 
a seat in the gallery, where the rest of 'em couldn't see me," 
said the backwoods member of the Legislature to his admir- 
ing friends in Smoky Hollow; "but I didn't feel a bit 
ashamed when I looked around, for darned if nigh the 
whole Legislature wasn't there." 

"Hello!" said a quick-spoken, quick-witted young fellow, 
at one of the functions in Caracas. "I haven't seen you 
since Chicago." 

I looked up, but was unable to recognize the man who had 
addressed me. It is an old and commonplace expedient, 
but I had to use it : the man who oft appears in public places 
sometimes must : 

"You have the best of me," I said. 

"My name is Haggerty. I reported the convention in 
Chicago, at which you were elected President of the 
National Republican League. Do you want me to sing 
'Sweet Annie Moore?'" 

"No, Haggerty, that's enough," said I, recalling both the 
convention and the song, "but what are you doing here?" 

"Waiting for the revolution !" 

The reply was laconic. It was the first time I had heard 
it in just that form, but soon it was to be as familiar as the 
discoveries of Columbus in the West Indies. Haggerty was 
representing the Associated Press and was in Caracas 
because of the rumors of Castro's death and a predicted 
uprising of the people. The story illustrates my thought in 
opening, but here is another. 

Among the passengers was Walter Penn Shipley, of 
Germantown. He registered at the Hotel Klindt, and, find- 
ing the clerk could speak English, asked a few questions. 



THE CITY O^ CARACAS. I7I 

The clerk replied civilly and then, observing the name upon 
the register (and for a moment it was not unlike a bunco 
game), inquired: 

"Do you not play chess?" 

"Why, yes," said Mr. Shipley in surprise. 

"I could not be mistaken, for I have just seen your picture 
and read your record in the British Magazine." 

And then tossing over a bundle of papers, he produced 
a periodical with Mr. Shipley's picture upon the front page 
and a running notice of his achievements at the game. 

"You must attend our club!" exclaimed the delighted 
clerk, "we have some great players, but they may not be in 
your class." 

Mr. Shipley was flattered, but coy. That evening, how- 
ever, he yielded to the pressure and found an earnest audi- 
ence of Venezuelan chess players waiting for him at the 
club. He looked them over and found, from their serious 
aspect, that apparently a great reputation had preceded him. 

"But no !" said he adroitly, "I do not care to play, let me 
look on." 

Firmly, but politely, the gentlemen of the club insisted, 
and finally the Philadelphian agreed to submit to one game. 
He played that game, and, apparently, much to the chagrin 
o^ his opponent, won. 

"You must play again!" came a chorus in broken but 
determined English. 

"No, gentlemen, one game is my limit. I have had 
enough." And with these words the newly-made hero 
retired with his laurels. 

But I want to speak of the Solomonic proverb, "There 
is no new thing under the sun." The modern mind evolves 
some brilliant thought, only to find that years ago another 
had done the same. The modern stage advances some new 



172 WITH spe:ake;r cannon through the tropics. 

bit of humor which tickles the pubhc taste, only because 
the public is forgetful and Joe Miller has been too long 
dead. A brilliant speaker coins a striking phrase, only to 
learn as the deadly parallel is drawn that somewhere in the 
Bible, in Homer, or in Shakespeare, his imageries, if not his 
words, have been anticipated. 

I thought of all these things as from the mountains 
above I looked down upon the red-tiled City of Caracas, a 
city in a valley 3,000 feet above the sea, and I wondered if 
we, as a nation, whose growth and prosperity has been so 
marvelous, had not perhaps "looked down" upon these 
people, whose very demeanor, seemingly morose and sullen, 
bespoke the spirit of resentment. Here was a civilization 
long antedating our own. The people had not progressed 
with that commercial and industrial rapidity that had char- 
acterized the United States, and for this, perchance, the 
climate was responsible. True, the bustling traveller from 
the Northern country had to wait till noon before his South- 
ern brother would partake of breakfast with him, but when 
the latter did appear he would come as one proud of his 
country and mindful of the personal proprieties, even to a 
fault. He would not come with the rush and the bustle 
of the typical Yankee, but he would come equipped in 
language (for the educated Venezuelan is a linguist), and 
in all the gentlemanly qualifications, to impress the visitor 
with his own self-respect. I had heard the word ''graft,'' 
so disagreeable a word as popularly used in the United 
States, applied with alarming frequency to the official life 
of Venezuela. I never, in its very hey-day in the United 
States, regarded "graft" as a new word. It was merely 
the adaptation of older terms descriptive of the selfish 
practices of great and small men, yea of institutions and 
countries, since fraud and cunning and human deviltry were 



THE CITY OJ? CARACAS. 1 73 

personified in the snake of Eden. So frequently, in fact, 
was the term graft used in connection with franchises and 
concessions by the Government of Venezuela that it smacked 
strongly of American origin. With every allowance for the 
unfaithfulness and trickery of individual leaders in Ven- 
ezuela, I wondered if we w^ere always entirely fair to the 
government and the people. In all his disputes with the 
United States, arising from the claims of individuals who 
claimed to be aggrieved and then wrapped around them- 
selves the Stars and Stripes, loudly calling upon the great 
United States for protection and vengeance, and, in all his 
defiance of European powers, whose claims had arisen in 
like fashion, the stubborn persistence of Castro had attracted 
me. It may have been the persistence of an Aguinaldo in 
the Philippines, wisely or unwisely standing for what he 
believed to be the rights of the people of the soil, or it may 
have been rank ingratitude to those who had extended a 
helping hand to a suffering people — I simply wondered 
whether our information came through sources prejudiced 
by their own selfish interests, or whether the actual troubles 
in which the weaker government found itself, were not in 
some measure fomented by designing men whose American- 
ism became intense when their toes were trodden upon. 

We have seen in our own country with what ease the 
political mob may be aroused by designing leaders; with 
what disregard of public morals an unscrupulous group of 
capitalists can make or unmake values, and with what skill 
the jugglers of certain great corporations have been able to 
nullify the rights of the people. If, therefore, in a country 
where hundreds of millions of dollars are the mere sport of 
individuals, whose methods affect the eighty millions of our 
own people, what may be expected of a country far less 
fortunate in its common citizenship, where a million dollars 



174 WITH SPEAKER CANNON THROUGH THE TROPICS. 

would be sufficient to conduct a revolution or undermine a 
government, and where the entire population of the country 
(Venezuela reports a population of 2,700,000) is not equal 
to that of the single American city of New York ? 

Even as these thoughts were flitting through my mind 
came the suggestion that the revolution, wdiich held Ven- 
ezuela in the throes of war's desolation and exalted Castro 
to the Presidency, was supported by capital which came 
from United States concessionaries, wdio had quarrelled 
with the government. I am not defending Castro, nor any 
of the Presidents preceding him, who seem to have grown 
rapidly rich on the reported salary of tw-enty-five thousand 
dollars a year, but I am continuing to wonder wdiether this 
afflicted country has not suffered from foreign adventurers, 
who only too readily have fallen back upon their citizenship 
elsewhere to harrow^ and distress the natives. I do not 
know, I simply wonder. 

Our twenty-three-mile ride from La Guaira to Caracas 
consumed more than two hours, or longer than it takes to 
make the run from New York to Philadelphia. We had 
seen enough of mountain scenery for a hot day, and were 
much refreshed when the City of Caracas unfolded to the 
view. Though its name is of Indian derivation and its 
history replete with war and upheaval, the very monuments, 
bridges and viaducts, arches of triumph and enduring spires, 
bespeak the work of an intelligent and artistic people. Out 
of a canopy of red or Spanish tile, so close that it seemed, 
at a distance, to form one roof — columns and towers reared 
their heads, pointing out the public structure, or betokening 
other specimens of architectural merit. In the panorama 
stood the capitol buildings with their paintings, relics and 
fountains; yonder the Central University; high on the hill 
beyond, the great Cathedral, the National Museum and 



TH£: CITY OF CARACAS. I 77 

Library, the Masonic Temple — regarded as the finest of 
its kind in South America ; the National Pantheon and 
various churches and theatres, and then the rounded struc- 
ture, which visiting North Americans patronize, but don't 
approve, the bull ring. 

Caracas, the capital city, is part of the State of Caracas, 
which is part of the Republic of Venezuela. At the time 
of the discovery of the country by Columbus in 1498, the 
entire country, including Caracas, was inhabited by Indian 
tribes. The Caracas occupied the valley, including the 
site of the capital city, which inherited their name. They 
were a warlike tribe, famous for their ability in weaving 
hammocks and in making gold ornaments. The Spaniards 
under the earlier captains, Fajardo, whose attempt was 
unsuccessful, and Lozado, who founded the city in 1567, 
found them a ferocious and implacable enemy. It was not 
until well on toward the middle of the sixteenth century 
that they were finally overcome. In the capital city as now 
constituted there are probably 90,000 people and 12,000 
houses. A hundred years ago the population was 50,000, 
or thereabouts. Compare this with the marvelous growth 
of northern cities and the result is surprising. Chicago, the 
metropolis of the West, was not on the map when Caracas 
was 250 years old. Caracas had 50,000 population and was 
one of the principal South American cities when Indians 
hunted on the site of Chicago, and yet, while Caracas has 
only doubled her population since, Chicago has advanced 
to second place among the cities of the United States with 
a population of 1,800,000. Or, if we carry the analogy 
further and take Philadelphia, the older American city, 
founded by William Penn in 1682, and having to-day a 
population of 1,500,000, we find, in the eleven wards, com- 
prising the Third Congressional District, where first the 



178 WITH spe:ake:r cannon through tpie: tropics. 

English settlers landed, a population exceeding 250,000, or 
two and a half times the entire population of the capital city 
of Venezuela. 

Professor Willis L. Moore, the Chief of the Weather 
Bureau, advances the theory that energy attains its highest 
development in the range of the north wind, and perhaps 
it is so, for the casual traveler cannot fail to remark the 
difference between the industrial temperament of the 
people who live in the two climates. In the North the 
human tendency is to delve and hustle ; in the tropics it 
seems to be to wait and dream. 

But if Caracas has not kept pace with Northern cities, or 
with those of the east and west coast of South America 
below the Equator, we should remember a series of vicissi- 
tudes that help to account for her slow growth. She had to 
fight Indians and keep always in readiness for invasion. 
She has witnessed numerous changes of government, while 
revolution and the fortunes of war have at times depleted 
her population. In 1812 an earthquake almost annihilated 
the city. The work of rebuilding was followed by wars and 
epidemics of cholera and fever. Her form of government 
has frequently changed, and the Presidential policies have 
been variable. Her constitution, which proclaims the high- 
est declarations of liberty and good faith to the people, has 
been frequently changed to please ''the powers that be ;" 
in fact, since she attained her independence, nine constitu- 
tions have been enacted. W^hen we remember how difficult 
it is to change the Constitution of the United States and 
look upon Venezuela as an example of the danger of mak- 
ing changes, we may congratulate ourselves that our fore- 
fathers builded so wisely and that the present generation 
adheres so pertinaciously to the letter and spirit of the 
Constitution as it was originally framed. 



TH1<: CITY OF CARACAS. 1 79 

Our reception at Caracas was impressive. The Secretary 
of Foreign Affairs, Dr. J. cle J. Paul, like most of the other 
officials, was concerned with the affairs of the President, 
but he sent a personal representative to the railroad station, 
accompanied by a distinguished-looking personage, whom 
we afterwards learned was an attache of the government, 
regularly assigned to this particular duty of seeing that dis- 
tinguished visitors were properly received. Both gentle- 
men were attired in high hats and frock coats. Had they 
been on dress parade, they could not have been more formal 
or imposing. The equipages to which they conducted the 
Speaker and members of the Congressional party were 
elaborate rigs, in keeping with the dignity of our reception. 
Assurance was given that Dr. Paul would later avail himself 
of the honor of calling upon the Speaker and then the com- 
mittee withdrew. In the absence of the United States Min- 
ister, Mr. W. W. Russell, the Speaker was then put under 
the escort of the Charge d'Affaires, Mr. Jacob Sleeper, a 
polished young American, who had previously seen service 
in Cuba. > 

We were driven to Miraflores (May flowers), the palace 
reared by President Jacinto de Crespo, one of the prede- 
cessors of Castro, on an eminence overlooking the city. 
Crespo being dead, the place had been leased by Castro upon 
his accession to the Presidency. He ha'd since built a new 
palace for himself on the other side of the city, and 
Miraflores had found no other tenant of sufficient means to 
properly maintain it. Hotel accommodations being inade- 
quate, the Steamship Company had secured the palace as an 
annex for our accommodation during the two days' sojourn. 
It was a sumptuous place of stone and tile, with a great 
patio, in the center of which fountains played upon palms, 
and ferns and pools containing goldfish. Evidences of 



l8o WITH SPKAKDR CANNON THROUGH THE TROPICS. 

Crespo's occupancy were shown in huge panel paintings of 
the swarthy warrior and his wife and in mosaics handsomely 
executed in floors and walls. The tenancy of Castro was also 
recalled by the discovery of books that had been overlooked 
in the moving, and a few flattering letters in Spanish ad- 
dressed to the generals under his command and bearing his 
signature, in a bold, round hand. 

To the gorgeous Chamber of State, with furniture and 
bedding hastily set up, the Speaker was conducted, and then 
to the others fell the choice of rooms, the number of which 
was past recording. McKinley, Sherman and Tawney were 
quartered near the Speaker, but Mann, Busbey and myself 
were directed to the Chapel — a beautiful corner room, where 
the warring Presidents of Venezuela and their families had 
bowed their heads and bent their knees in homage to the 
Virgin. 

A wonderful structure, Miraflores, expansive as befits a 
kingdom, ornate to the point of garishness and formidable 
in its vantage-ground against a possible uprising in the city 
below. It had been the pride of Crespo ; it had cost a mil- 
lion dollars; it had been the scene of many a brilliant fete, 
perchance of many a direful plot, but now it stood alone — 
a charge upon the widow and a monument to vanity — that 
overwhelming quality which constitutes at once the essence 
and the bane of human life. 

''Come," said Mann, "let's see Caracas !" and, hailing a 
cabby, we started out with Busbey on our usual tour of sight- 
seeing. The driver of the cab was Spanish, in fact all the 
drivers were, but a few West Indian negroes flocked around 
and offered themselves as guides. They spoke English and 
seemed to be on good terms with the natives. So we engaged 
one. I had never seen Mann more exacting than he was 
with that guide. He wanted ''the truth, the whole truth. 



the: city 01? CARACAS. l8l 

and nothing but the truth." How much he got I do not 
know, but his prodding developed a capacity for discussion 
and a cleverness on the part of the negro in imparting 
information that had not been equalled anywhere we had 
stopped. 

"You come from Grenada?" asked ^lann. 

"Yes, sir!" 

''Why did you come ?" 

"To better my condition." 

"Do you find it more profitable here?" 

"That depends, sir, upon gentlemen like you." 

The streets of Caracas were the typical, narrow Spanish 
streets, with abbreviated sidewalks, some of them high 
enough above the surface of the streets to give the latter 
the appearance of open sewers. All kinds of vehicles were 
employed, from the lumbering ox-wagon to the miserable 
donkey-cart. There were antiquated tram-cars drawn by 
horses, and an odd style of automobile — heavy and cumber- 
some, with the machinery sadly exposed. The best con- 
veyances were the carriages, and these were not numerous. 
In the business part of the city, peddlers were plentiful ; there 
were also some beggars. The peddlers offered the apagata — 
the native sandal — and native wood canes, especially those 
cut from vines that bend without breaking. But the oddest 
peddlers, and perhaps the most persistent, were those who 
offered old books and pamphlets, which, on examination, 
proved to be reports of the departments and bureaus of 
the Venezuelan Government. Some of these were as big 
and thick as Patent Office reports, and calculated, if accur- 
ately thrown, to do as much damage. 

The casas, or houses, of the city were intensely Spanish. 
They ranged from the adobe hut, which rented for $4 per 
month, to the million dollar palaces of Crespo and Castro. 



i82 WITH spe:ake:r cannon through the: tropics. 

The palaces, of course, occupied prominent positions and 
were surrounded by ample gardens and grounds, but the 
average city structure was of stone or plaster, built close 
up to the street line, with the garden and flowers inside. 
More than elsewhere, the houses were built as if to find 
protection in proximity. The doors ran through to the 
patios, which, in the poorer sections, were little more than 
courts and alleys, upon which the houses of the huddled 
residents fronted. Iron gratings in front of windows were 
almost everywhere. The bars were massive like those in 
prison cells, giving the facades along some of the thorough- 
fares the appearance of penitentiary walls. It was explained 
that the barred windows were used because the buildings 
were low and otherwise accessible to thieves. There was 
also a suspicion that the native restlessness of the people 
made the barred window desirable on general principles, 
since it might be necessary at almost any time to fortify 
their homes. Strange as these windows seemed, they were 
made picturesque at times by the appearance of women or 
groups of children, watching the sights outside, or seeking 
the light and air. 

"Onions, onions, everywhere !" exclaimed Mann as we 
left our carriage to saunter through a Venezuelan market- 
house. 

''And yams !" said I. 

"And dried fish," added Busbey. "Did you ever see so 
many dried fish as we have noticed in these tropical 
markets ?" 

But, in addition to these old friends of the West Indies, 
the Caracas market was well-stocked with fresh meats and 
vegetables. We found some very fine tomatoes, and excel- 
lent tropical fruit. The market-house was a department 
store afifair, divided into sections for boots and shoes, dry- 



the: city of CARACAS. 1 83 

goods, hardware, silks and novelties, and food supplies. 
Prices, however, were high as compared with prices in cities 
of the United States. 

We dined at the Hotel Klindt. In order to reach it, we 
passed through the celebrated Plaza Bolivar, an open square 
of Caracas, the surface of which is artistically tiled. This 
square is shaded by native trees, and is embellished by orna- 
mental lamp-posts, with clusters of lights. The center- 
piece, however, is an equestrian statue of Simon Bolivar, the 
George Washington of South America. Bolivar is the one 
particular heroic star of Venezuela. There are many others, 
and Venezuelans glory in their heroes, but the great "Lib- 
erator," as Bolivar is known, outshines them all. It was he 
who, after a career of remarkable military achievement in 
South America in 1821, fought the successful battle of Cara- 
bobo, which established the Republic of Venezuela and 
effected a separation from the throne of Spain. Venezuela 
money is counted in bolivars, and the name is used for 
public parks and places, with greater frequency than is that 
of Washington in the United States. And, as Venezuelans 
have many holidays and the flowers are always a-bloom, 
the various monuments to Bolivar are seldom without 
wreaths or ornamentation. Nor, in fact, are those of the 
lesser heroes, for the National Pantheon is a house of per- 
petual memorial, where rest the bones of Bolivar, of Sucre, 
and Miranda, ''the friend of Washington," upon whose tab- 
let there still remained a handsome wreath of immortelles 
deposited by the Daughters of the American Revolution in 
February, 1900. 

But let us pause for dinner ! Our hotel was neither a 
Bellevue-Stratford, a Willard's, an Auditorium, nor a 
Waldorf-Astoria ; yet it was the crack hotel of Venezuela. 
Did you ever dine in a train-shed? Well, this best of 



184 WITH spi:ake:r cannon through the tropics. 

Venezuelan hostelries had a train-shed floor and a train- 
shed roof, with a gallery round the second floor. It was 
built to give light and air and it got both. But since the 
tableware was clean we did not concern ourselves about 
much but the menu. How were we going to enjoy "Ven- 
ezuelan soup" and 'Targo f rito" and the ''Ragout" ? 

Tawney looked at Mann, and Mann looked at the Widow 
— the latter looked at the card, gave one order in French, 
then another in Spanish. She tried a little of everything. 
At last Tawney got started. They were serving "sliced ham 
and turkey," and it was actually spelled in English. Then 
came "Venezuelan Arepitas, fried." 

"I'll try 'em," said Tawney. 

"So will I," said Mann. 

But the "arepitas" broke their dinner. A Venezuelan 
delicacy, neither of the American statesmen could swallow 
a mouthful. Out of respect for the country and its people, 
they tried hard, but couldn't do it. 

"Give me a piece of brown paper," said Dr. Keely to one 
of the waiters. "I want to wrap this up and take it to Dr. 
Wiley." 

The "arepita" was of the flap-jack species, done hard in 
grease. Following it came another native product, "the 
national black bean," which colored up the tongues and lips 
like the American huckleberry. National cheese and coffee 
were served, together with a variety of native fruits. Some 
of these were new and very agreeable to the taste. They 
included aquacates, mangos, papayas and misperos, in addi- 
tion to pineapples, bananas and oranges. The unfamiliar 
fruits were sweet and fibrous. 

"Drive us to the Capitol," said Busbey, after we had 
pushed our way through a curious crowd that gathered in 
front of the hotel. The driver managed to understand, and 



the; city o^ CARACAS. 185 

presently the entire Congressional party, with Charge 
d'Affaires Sleeper guiding the Speaker, assembled in the 
halls of the lawmakers of the Republic. 

The Capitol occupies an entire block, with an area of 
more than two acres. There were two legislative chambers, 
one for the Senate and another for the House of Deputies^ 
in addition to executive offices and committee rooms. The 
National Museum and Library, the Old Temple of San 
Francisco, and the Federal Palace are all in the capitol 
group. In an elliptical hall devoted to public receptions are 
hung the portraits of Venezuela's heroes and presidents. A 
huge picture of the Battle of Carabobo, by Martin Tovar 
y Tovar, a Venezuelan artist, is displayed in this building. 

Another striking picture, by the same artist, represented 
the signing of the Venezuelan Declaration of Independence, 
and still another, the Battle of Ayacucho, fought on 
Peruvian territory. In all the paintings militarism was 
dominant, being so presented as to inspire the youthful 
Venezuelan to deeds of martial glory. The heroes were 
represented as on horseback, with eyes blazing and swords 
unsheathed. 

An inspection of the Capitol and other public buildings 
induced McKinley to speak his mind on one phase of the 
Venezuelan character : 

"The people are patriotic," he said. 

The public monuments and paintings sustained this state- 
ment. Venezuela had her Washington, her Lincoln, and 
her Grant. She preserves and venerates their relics in 
National Museums as we do ours in the old Town Hall, 
of Boston, or in Independence Hall, in Philadelphia. She 
boasts of her Declaration of Independence, signed in 181 1, 
and likens it to that oi the United States. Indeed, as a 
mark of her respect for the United States, she erected a 



i86 WITH spi5ake:r cannon through the tropics. 

splendid marble statue of Washington, which still stands 
in one of the prominent public places of Caracas. But 
though inclined to worship heroes, living and dead, woe 
betide the fame of him in whom the public confidence is 
shaken. Perhaps no President of the Republic was accorded 
greater honors during his lifetime than Guzman Blanco. 
He was idolized and monuments were erected to memorialize 
his achievements. But one day he departed for France. 
It was reported he had taken his wealth with him, and 
would not return. The people's love turned to suspicion, 
and then to hatred. In their frenzy they rushed about the 
city destroying evidences of their former good-will. One 
of these, a costly bronze statue, was dragged from its 
pedestal on one of the promontories overlooking the city, 
and battered out of shape. It was still lying by the 
roadside as we passed — a hapless object lesson for those 
who trifle with the emotions of a warm-blooded people. 

Although the whereabouts of President Castro were a 
mystery, some of us, out of curiosity, drove to his palatial 
residence, Villa Zoila (named for Mrs. Castro), and were 
escorted through the building and grounds. We had 
occasion here to observe the police system in its best form. 
There were gorgeous tropical trimmings, in trees, vines 
and flowers, but the approaches to the palace were guarded 
by officers, who, like the patrolmen of the city, were attired 
much like dismounted cavalrymen and armed with short 
muskets. It was not diflicult to discern that these men stood 
very close to the government and exercised a strong influ- 
ence among the people. On the way to Castro's house, 
Olcott, Sherman, Busbey and some others stopped at the 
house of General Ybarra, the former Venezuelan Minister 
to the United States, whose residence in Washington had 
acquainted him with the Boston lady whom he had taken 



the: city of CARACAS. 187 

for his wife. The home of the General was one of the most 
picturesque in the city, being so constructed against the 
mountain side as to utihze for fountain and cascade a 
beautiful mountain stream that danced and sang in the 
garden. 

The Speaker had consented to receive a few English- 
speaking Americans and others at Mr. Dolge's house, near 
the National Pantheon, in the afternoon. On the way we 
observed many Augustinian friars, with their broad, bell- 
crowned hats and black gowns, and many women, also 
attired in black, displaying crucifixes and other evidences 
of devotion. The great Cathedral of Caracas and other 
costly churches demonstrated the hold of the clergy upon 
this people. Their devotional days are many, but that the 
social side is alsd strong was attested by the numerous 
theaters — one of them erected by the Government at a cost 
of $1,000,000 — the bull-ring, and other places of amusement. 

We noticed, too, some Indians, and one woman in par- 
ticular, whose disheveled hair and unsteady gait bespoke, 
at a glance, the difficulties which confronted the missionary 
priests who, early in the history of Venezuela, attempted 
to Christianize the aborigines. The Venezuelan Indian is 
not extinct. He exists in many tribes, some of whom are 
still as untractable as were their cannibal progenitors. The 
bad Indians have the reputation of preferring starvation to 
work. Drink is their great enemy. 

At Dolge's house the guests included a number of news- 
paper correspondents sent to Caracas from the United 
States. To one of them I put the question : 

''How long have you been here?" 

''A month." 

"Anything doing?" 

"No/' 



i88 WITH spe:ake:r cannon through the: tropics. 

"What are you waiting for?" 

"The revolution." 

"Why do you think there will be a revolution?" 

"Because it's in the air. Sure to come when Castro goes." 

That evening we attended the American Minister's 
reception. It was a full-dress affair, and we perspired in 
anticipation. In Mr. Russell's absence, the Charge 
d'Affaires received the Speaker at the House of the Lega- 
tion, the former home of General Matos, whom Castro had 
overthrown. It was a typical high-class Venezuelan 
mansion, close by the leading club of the city. The statuary 
and furnishings evinced a taste for the beautiful and 
harmonized delightfully with the foliage and fountains of 
the patio, through which the shadows fell from the light of 
the stars. It was still the property of the exiled Matos, 
but it suited the American Minister's notion of the dignity 
of a legation headquarters, and it pleased us. 

"Is any international complication likely to arise because 
the American Minister rented the house of a revolutionist ?" 

I put this question to a resident of Caracas. 

"No, that is improbable," was the answer, "but owners 
of Caracas real estate who go into the revolution business 
stand to win or lose all. If a defeated revolutionist who 
has to leave the country can rent his home to a foreign 
legation, he breathes easier, that's all." 

The dinner at Russell's was the best, in the matter of 
cuisine, we had enjoyed since leaving Washington. It was 
up to the famous old Bellevue standard, with a few tropical 
entrees thrown in. Among these was a salad made of the 
cabbage-like heart of the palm, which might have been 
mistaken for celery had the fibers been less tough. The 
Venezuelan Minister of Foreign Affairs made his formal 
call upon the Speaker at this function. The guests also 



the: city O^ CARACAS. 1 89 

included a brace of young Americans who had come to 
the Minister with letters of introduction, and were on their 
way to hunt lions down the Orinoco. 

It was announced, by Dr. Paul, that a reception to the 
Speaker and party on behalf of the Government had been 
arranged to take place immediately after dinner, at La Casa 
Amarilla, opposite the Plaza Bolivar, and that in honor of 
the event the people were now assembling in the Plaza. 
The Casa Amarilla, or the Yellow House, is the official home 
of the Government, and thither the entire party repaired. 
Probably 4,000 people crowded the square, in the usual 
Southern whirligig fashion, when we arrived. There were 
the musicians, the promenaders, and the chair-warmers, the 
rich and the poor, all mingling together in the same demo- 
cratic fashion we had witnessed in Porto Rico and the other 
islands of the West Indies. The wife and daughters of 
the Minister of Foreign Affairs, of General Ybarra, and 
many others of prominence, mingled with the crowd. It 
was even difficult to obtain chairs for the ladies, so eager 
were the people generally to participate in the evening's 
entertainment. The National Military Band, occupying 
the same relation to the President that the Marine Band 
does in Washington, had been holding the crowd until the 
Speaker made his appearance, when immediately it started 
in on the ''Star Spangled Banner." Deferentially the main 
body of Venezuelans raised their hats. Members of our 
party, I regret to say, were a little slow, because of the 
general hubbub incident to their arrival, but they followed 
suit, and countered promptly when the band turned quickly 
to the inspiring tunes of the National Anthem of Vene- 
zuela. The latter was a gingery, warlike production, with 
a swing that almost set the feet in motion. 

Then came the reception ; Dr. Paul and the Speaker were 



190 WITH SPEAKER CANNON THROUGH THE TROPICS. 

surrounded by the elite of Caracas when the hand-shaking 
began. 

'*I regret very much the absence of President Castro," 
began Dr. Paul. He is ill, and sends his compliments. On 
his behalf, I desire to say that it is the wish of Venezuela 
to be at peace with all the world. We are especially 
desirous of having the friendship of the United States." 

Speaker Cannon replied in a happy vein, expressing the 
pleasure he had derived from his visit, referring to the 
Northern interest in Venezuela and our regret for the illness 
of President Castro, whom he hoped would soon be restored 
to health. 

''I have heard," he said, ''that your Castro is a strong 
man. Strong men are necessary to the maintenance of a 
firm and enduring government." 

At the conclusion of the brilliant occasion in the Yellow 
House, most of us accepted an invitation to visit the 
Concordia Club, the resort of the best citizens of Caracas. 
The scene here, even at the late hour, was a busy one. The 
president, who had been one of the Republic's representa- 
tives on the Boundary Commission, greeted us. The high 
life of the city was represented at the tables, an occasional 
ponche crema was coming the way of the thirsty, and no 
one seemed to^ have a thought of the morrow. Sherman 
and I, who had admired the paintings and flowers, looked 
at the stars, and then at the tile floors, glistening under the 
electric light, and concluded it was time to go. If Vene- 
zuelans took no breakfast, we did, and then again, there 
was a limit to human endurance. We had put in eighteen 
hours, and were ready ''to call it a day." 

"Let's walk !" said my companion, as we passed out into 
the dark, walled street. 

In full-dress we started. The farther we proceeded, 



THE CITY 01^ CARACAS. I9I 

the darker the street became. Then we lost our bearings. 
Surely the light beyond was that of Miraflores ! But here's 
a musketeer, let us ask him. 

''The Miraflores ?'' we said. ''The Miraflores ? You do 
not understand? May-flowers, Ouien Sabe ! Bah! May- 
flowers — Crespo, Sabe ? May-flowers ?" 

But it was useless. We tried the first, the second, the 
third. We tried a dozen ; one would whistle to another, 
the next would call ; the dogs began to bark and the 
chickens to crow, but they brought us to no> better under- 
standing. At last, the wheels of a carriage attracted our 
attention. We hailed it in English ; the response was in 
kind. 

"Where are you bound?" called McKinley. 

"Bound for the Palace of Crespo!" answered Sherman. 
"Got any room?" 

"Don't need any," came the answer, as McKinley, 
Tawney, Mann and others alighted. "You're there now." 

After all our wanderings, we had but to turn a corner to 
reach the Palace steps. 

With Mann and Busbey I slept that night in the shadow 
of the statue of the Virgin Mary. It was a short, sweet 
sleep, for the cock of Caracas is an early bird, and the dog 
an accomplished barker. Nor were these the only disturbers 
of our peaceful slumbers. The very sanctity of our 
environment was our undoing, for there were Roman 
Catholics in the Bluechers party who thought to avail 
themselves of the good offices of the chapel, and when they 
began to appear — both men and women — the situation 
became embarrassing. But, after all, I liked Mann's philo- 
sophical way of stating it : 

"This does me good," he said. 

"This morning," said McKinley, after the negro attend- 



192 WITH spe:ake:r cannon through the tropics. 

ants at the Palace had fried a couple of eggs for the Speaker, 
"we take the 'Grosse Venezuela Eisenbahn/ or the Great 
Venezuela Railway, from Caracas to Valencia. This is 
another wonderful bit of railroading done by the Germans. 
At Valencia the German road connects with another road, 
built by English capital, which carries us down the moun- 
tains, partly on cog-wheels, until we come out at Puerto 
Cabello. You're in for a long, hot day." 

"Let the galled jade wince!" said the Speaker, putting 
aside a copy of the Venezuelan constitution. "I'm ready 
for the fray." 

The special car of the president of the road — built on 
the summer-car plan — was placed at Mr. McKinley's 
disposal, and the Speaker and party boarded it. As it was 
attached to the rear of the train, our opportunities for 
observation were fine; nor could any of us fail in admira- 
tion of the pluck of the builders, whose courageous engi- 
neering was again the subject of remark. In 1887, Krupp, 
of Essen, received the concession to build this road. Work 
began the next year, but six years were necessary to com- 
plete it. Nor did we wonder at this, for along the 179 
kilometers of road provision had been made for 212 
viaducts and bridges across chasms, valleys and rivers, and 
86 tunnels through mountains. Again, a height above sea- 
level of 1,227 rneters had to be attained. The ties along this 
wonderful road were made of steel. 

Scenery — wild, weird, romantic, profound ! If we had 
been surfeited on the English road from La Guaira to 
Caracas, we were now glutted on the German road from 
Caracas to Valencia. The Rockies, the Alps, the Pyrenees — 
all came up for comparison and discussion, until scenery, 
flowers and plants no longer held our interest. We tired 
of the shacks and feeble settlements ; even the babies, that 



the: city of CARACAS. 1 93 

now so frc(jiiently a])peare(l in naked relief, no longer 
attracted ns. The wealth undeveloped, the j^lantation pos- 
sibilities, the protection of investors — all these subjects 
passed in review, and then at some mountain station, shaded 
by the bread fruit or cassava, where the perfume of the 
mai^nolia and jessamine mingled with the trailing bougain- 
villean, we would stop to take water. It was on one of these 
leg-stretching- stops we had a chance to test the gaming 
s])irit of the country. Two cocks, tied to stakes, were eyeing 
each other at a safe distance. It needed but to cut the cord 
of one to start the music. A wag cut the cord. Feathers 
were trying" in less time than it takes to write it. It was 
just what the passengers wanted, but in a jiffy the maddest 
station master J have ever seen broke through the crowd 
and grabbed the birds. 

''You pay for 'em if you want 'em!" he managed to 
blurt out in English. 

"(jood!'' said White, of Connecticut. "Just the thing! 
How much?'' 

"Sixty dollars, now, you want 'em fight." 

l)Ut the train was ready, and we had to go. 

The Speaker was still wrestling with the Constitution of 
Venezuela, a copy of which had been handed him in 
Caracas, when Busbey and Dr. Hough renewed the "settle- 
ment" of the Venezuelan problem. 

"The army is with Castro to-day," said the Doctor, "but 
it is with anybody to-morrow. This country must have 
foreigners. One hundred bright North Americans, working 
together, with plenty of money to back them, w^ould init 
Venezuela on her feet." 

"No, no," Busbey chimed in, gloomily, "the blood-ties 
of these people are all with the Europeans." 

Tired and hungry, we drew into La Victoria — half the 

13 



194 WITH SPEAKER CANNON THROUGH THE TROPICS. 

run completed — shortly after noon. It was at this place — 
the Gettysburg of Venezuela — that Castro met and defeated 
Matos. In this battle 8,000 men were killed. 

Near the station, by the side of a stream, an avenue of 
bamboo trees afforded shade for a picnic luncheon. The 
trees rubbed their hollow trunks against each other 
musically, as we made the best of the cold chicken and 
native food that was set before us. Then gathered a large 
proportion of the population, quiet and gloomy. The 




I,UNCHEON UNDER BAMBOO TREES, LA VICTORIA. 



constabulary also turned out, for the military is established 
in La Victoria. 

'Xook!'' said McKinley, 'Xook at that street car!" 
Announced by a jangling bell, along it came on a narrow- 
gauge track — about the size of a fiat-top desk. But, never- 
theless, it had four transverse seats, and these were occupied 
by men and women. 

''Take me back to old Champaign," was JMcKinley's 
closing commentary. 



THi: CITY OF CARACAS. 195 

A handsome young gentleman, in a small turnout, now 
drove forward, seeking the Speaker. He said he had been 
requested by the Governor of the province to say that his 
presence was required at the funeral of a former governor 
of the province, otherwise he would have called upon the 
Speaker in person. 

"You speak English very well," said the Speaker. 

*'0, yes!" was the reply. "I am a correspondent for 
'Collier's Weekly.' " 

"And what are you doing here?"' 

Could there be any other reason? Certainly not! 

''Waiting for the revolution," said the young New Yorker.- 

Another American greeted us at La Victoria, a mis- 
sionary, who brought along his fair-haired wife and sister. 
A jMinnesotean, he naturally inquired for Tawney, to whom 
he ]:»resented a rare bulb, indigenous to the soil. 

"We're making out fairly well now," said the man of 
God, optimistically. "There is, to be sure, much opposition 
to our work here, but we have a church and a steady con- 
gregation of fifteen or twenty persons." 

"How long have you been here?" the missionary was 
asked. 

"About five years. There are many negroes here, and 
much of our work is with them. It is a rich and beautiful 
country, and, with God's help, we shall do the best we can 
to enable the people to enjoy it." 

"You are making a noble struggle against heavy odds," 
said the Speaker, to whom the missionary had been pre- 
sented. "The black man needs your help, and I suppose 
someone must make the sacrifice. It is a great work, in 
which we all hope for the best. I hope for the best now, 
as I did in the days along the Wabash — when many a black 
man came my way. It brought him a day nearer Canada — 
I hope for the best." 



196 



WITH spe:ake:r cannon through the tropics. 



There was no time for sight-seeing in La Victoria, for it 
was a long and tiresome run to Valencia, and we were all 
anxious to have it over. Mann and I, wearying of the heat, 
took to the back platform, and, with our legs dangling over, 
counted the tunnels and bridges, or watched the buzzards 
circling overhead. We had speculated upon the llanos of 
the Guaira river, with their fine herds and plantations of 
coffee, sugar and tobacco ; had observed the primitive plows 




HORSE-CAR, LA VICTORIA, VENEZUELA. 



and farming implements, the evidences of mineral wealth 
and the presence of wild cotton, when at one of the small 
stations a crowd of black boys assembled, with fruits and 
flowers. The passengers were good humored and ''rigged" 
the vendors, who stuck to ridiculously high prices, and made 
no sales. The train pulled out slowly and then developed 
an amusing scene. From seriousness and taciturnity, the 
vendors changed to the frivolous. They tossed their 
"precious" merchandise in the air, kicked it about the 




UNDER THE BAMBOO TREE. EA VICTORIA. 



¥ltE: CifY 0^ CARACAS. 1 90 

jDlatform, and danced upon it. It evidenced a new trait of 
character, and dispelled a little of the gloom so generally 
prevalent amongst the people. Mann immediately took 
advantage of it by saluting the lonely workmen whom we 
passed along the way. They liked it, and waved back. 
They may have thought it was Roosevelt, or possibly mis- 
took the swarthy face of my distinguished colleague for 
that of Castro. However, it did no harm, and added a 
h'ttle human sunshine to the exceedingly effective natural 
variety. 

At X'alencia we took the other l{nglish road tliat was to 
carry us to l*uerto Cabello and tlie BJiicchcr. It was scenic 
from start to finish, l)ut a great novelty of it was the cog- 
wlieel feature. In the wildest country imaginable, the water 
leaping from crag to rock below, where wondrous vines 
entangled themselves among the trees, we descended 
from a height of 1,500 feet above sea-level at an angle so 
])reci]:»itous as to niake the teeth chatter. iUit about sun- 
down we landed upon level tracks, where the whifTs of 
ozone admonished us of the proximity of the sea. 

Through forests of cacti, resembling the myriad masts 
of ships in a harbor beyond a hill, we steamed along, crossing- 
wastes of sand, and marshes like those of the Jersey coast, 
coniing out, at last, in full view of the ocean at an Indian 
village known as El Palito. The train stopped at El Palito, 
and some of us dropped off to look into the huts. Simple 
dwellings they were, containing only the one room, open 
(through crevices, at least) on all sides, with an earthen 
fireplace, a few utensils, and a board bed. Though the 
liabies were not in "conventional attire," the men and 
women were neatly dressed, in observance, apparently, of 
a holy day. 

Splendid cocoanut groves came into view as we ap- 



200 VVll^tt SPEAKER CANNON f HROUCH l^HE tROtlCS. 

preached Cabello (the port of the hair), and we thought of 
the blockade of the foreign powers as the Government bar- 
racks were pointed out. The former yacht of Howard 
Gould, now a part of Castro's gunboat flotilla, lay at anchor 
in the harbor. Vari-colored electric lights began to sparkle 
from the Navy Yard, which comprehends the frowning old 
prison on the spot of land across the harbor, and numerous 
small boats, with men in uniform, flitted in and out. 

"The President is making a fine new navy yard," said 
one of our escort on the wharf. 

"But he's got a lot of political prisoners in that old 
dungeon," said another. 

"What do they say in Caracas; is Castro living or dead?" 
queried a third. 

By this time the United States Consul, Mr. Johnson, a 
negro, from New York, accompanied by an assistant, came 
forward and presented himself to the Speaker. Another 
New Yorker, Mr. Broad, was amongst the callers. Broad 
was completing the Government work at the navy yard, 
and had just set up a dry dock which was built in the United 
States. It had been a holiday in Puerto Cabello, and the 
places of business were closed, so we turned our eyes to the 
majestic outlines of the steamship Blueclier — our home. 
She was ablaze with lights from stem to stern, and her 
proportions dwarfed into insignificance the vessels that lay 
nearby. 




the; i^amily wash, Jamaica. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

JAMAICA. 

Fun on the Ship— Mr. Cannon "Reminesces"— The Development of 
the West— Peter Cartwright's Sermon— Lincohi's Sore Trial— 
Lovejoy's Speech in the Illinois Convention— America's Great 
Home Market— Approach to Jamaica— Wrecks and Rocks— The 
Sinking- of Port Royal— Kingston and the Earthqnake— Stories 
of the Great Disaster— The Queen's Monument Twisted— A Dis- 
mantled Cluh— Citizens Still Bewildered— The Incident of 
Swellcnham— A Foolish Letter— Women Carrying the Hod— 
yVrrival of Secretary Mctcalf— Governor Dines With Americans 
— Trouhle Raising Revenue— Canada Complains of the Tariff- 
United States Left Out— Work of Restoration Slow. 

Lie sailed — away — from New York Bay, 

Across — the o-cean l)lue, 
Lie did — the whole — West Indies up 

And captured Vcne/u — 
He had — the Spcak-er and the House — 

The Sen-ator had, too, 
And every other Mann 
Who was ever worth a , 

So McKinley, — Llerc's 
to 
you ! 

The qtiict Illinoisan was dozino' calrnly in his comfortable 
deck-chair on the niornitio- after our Venezitelan experience 
— and there was no escape. In painfully discordant tones, 
but with plenty of action, the entei-tainment committee got in 
its deadly work. IMcKinley awoke and listened, then asked 
to be excused. 

'T am unused to such distinction," he said. 

Odd, varied and picturesque as had been the scenes and 

203 



;204 WI'fH SP^AKBlR CANNON I^HROUGH tH^ 'tROPlCS. 

incidents of the Venezuelan trip, few were inclined to long 
discussion when the ship left Puerto Cabello. We were a 
tired lot and most of us at once sought our state-rooms. But 
the night's sleep had been refreshing, and ahead of us were 
two days at sea in a northerly course to Jamaica. . We were 
to spend another day there and then, on the run to Colon and 
Panama, kill the remaining two days required by Mr. Mc- 
Kinley's five days' quarantine instructions. And yet we had 
wasted no time from the landing at St. Thomas to the de- 
parture from Puerto Cabello. In fact, we had hustled, and 
that under German direction. But now that we were to 
have two days at sea — two delightful, restful days — how 
were the passengers to be entertained ? The insurgent ruse 
had l^een worked until there was little amusement in it. The 
Widow and the escapades of her monkey were attracting 
some attention, and there were small bits of scandal and 
gossip that admonished us of Airs. Grundy's presence. 

"I say," said Airs. Culgan to young Eversman, 'Vlo you 
know that Mrs. Brown, of Montana, has mesmeric powers ? 
She can tell what you are playing, a la Paderewski, from the 
mere movement of your fingers." 

"Indeed!'' replied Eversman, imitating the piano player in 
pantomime. "What am I playing, Mrs. Brown ?" 

''You are playing the fool !" 

''That's very nice," said McKinley, "but wait, Mrs. 
Brown ! Do you know why they call the capital of Vene- 
zuela, Caracas?" 

"No, why?" 

"Because, that's its name." 

"But here's the Captain !" said Mrs. Smith, of Peoria. 
"Don't allow dogs on the ship, do you, Captain? Miss 
Bassett fooled you good, didn't she?" (Miss Bassett had 
cleverly imitated the barking of a dog in one of the cabins.) 



THE ISLAND 01-' JAMAICA. 205 

"I dink not," said the Captain. 

"But you didn't find any dog!" 

"No, only heard de tale." 

"Ah, Mr. Speaker," said one of the party as Mr. Cannon 
hove in sight, "did you see Mr. Busbey in his new duck 
suit? He is so gorgeous we have made him admiral." 

"You know why men are made admirals?" asked Mr. 
Cannon. 

"No!" 

"Tliey are made admirals to get on the retired list." 

"But Mr. vMann," exclaimed a bevy of ladies, who had 
helped along the McKinley song, "we must have an enter- 
tainment to-night !" 

Mann looked up from a volume entitled "\'enezuela," by 
William E. Curtis, lazily adjusted his glasses, and said: 
"Would it not be better to have dinner first?" 

"By all means, Mr. Mann, but then the entertainment!" 

"Very well, you shall have the best on the boat. We will 
get Speaker Cannon." 

"Oh, won't that be lovely !" 

"Yes, we will get the Speaker," said Mann. "He is under 
orders on this ship. We will make him tell of his experi- 
ences in the Far West." 

In the evening, after dinner, the committee having cap- 
tured Mr. Cannon for a short talk, the great dining room 
was filled to the doors. Mann presented Sherman as the 
presiding officer, and one of the delightful speeches for which 
the New Yorker became noted aboard ship followed. Mrs, 
Huntoon, of Providence, sang beautifully, and then came the 
Speaker. It was negligee weather, and the Speaker's loose 
trappings strikingly portrayed the very characteristics of 
the founders of the West whom he extolled. 

"I now present to you one of the few men who rode the 
circuit with the immortal Lincoln," said Sherman. 



206 WITH SPEAKER CANNON THROUGH THK TROPICS. 

The audience rose and cheered. They had come to know 
the Speaker personaUy, and they were prepared to fall back 
for the treat they believed to be in store. 

''Rode the circuit with Abraham Lincoln/' began Uncle 
Joe. "That makes it necessary to reminesce — how long was 
it before most of you were born ? And I am trying to keep up 
with you as a candidate — for matrimony." 

"The Middle West ! Why the Middle West is but a mat- 
ter of twenty-four hours, and yet the settlement of the Mid- 
dle West, as it was known years ago, presents a record more 
marvelous than the history of any country on the face of the 
earth, from the close of the Revolution to the present time. 
The settlement of the Middle West involves a leadership on 
the part of men whose names will live through all time. It 
was a kind of leadership that accorded with the people who 
were to be led. Without such leadership and without co- 
operation as between the leadership and the people, leader- 
ship for great purposes cannot long prevail." 

Mr. Cannon took up the life-work of Lewis and Clark, 
whom he pictured as types of the great American frontiers- 
men ; spoke of their personal triumphs and high national 
purposes, and told how such men carried the boundary of the 
Republic from the Allegheny mountains to the Mississippi 
and then to the Pacific ocean. 

"The Middle West ! How odd it sounded now to those 
who could so easily compute distances and establish commu- 
nication with the States beyond the Atlantic seaboard, and 
yet how important in its time was the accession to the Union 
of Ohio, of Lidiana, of Illinois, and of Michigan ! But what 
thoughts the inevitable Western trend of civilization recalled ! 
The incorruptible history of it all; the individual history of 
it ; the pioneer in his buckskin garments ; the lawyer who 
assisted in establishing the rights and the titles for a miser- 



the: ISI.AND OF JAMAICA. 207 

able stipend ; the doctor who took his chances in the new and 
unsettled territory ; the business man who staked his all upon 
the coming- of the people, and the men and the women who 
took their chances with the elements and the Indians and 
hostile environment. 

"I don't like to 'reminesce,' and you'll pardon me for that 
word," said the Speaker, "but it is important that those of 
us who are able may do so, as a help to the wise and safe 
determination of the questions of the future. The mission- 
ary had much to do with the development of the jNliddle 
West, particularly the Methodist ; his industry and courage 
carried him across the mountains and aided him in fording 
the streams. Each country has its own notion of religion — 
but they were God-fearing men, no matter what denomina- 
tion they represented, who struck out in those days for the 
development of God's work in the wilderness. They were 
made of stern stuff ; they wore homespun, 'warmuses,' we 
used to call them ; men of the Peter Cartwright type. 

"The announcement went forth to the people of the wild 
country," the Speaker continued, "that at 6 o'clock one morn- 
ing Peter Cartwright would speak. The assignment was a 
hard one and dare-devil fellows were to be dealt with, but 
Cartwright took it up and said : 'We shall have such an 
outpouring of the spirit as will gladden the day.' 

''Cartwright was hammering away with all his enthusiasm, 
when the old pioneer bishop exclaimed : 'Be careful, Gen- 
eral Jackson is coming down the aisle !' 

"'Who's General Jackson?' said the preacher, defiantly. 
'If he don't repent of his sins, he'll be damned the same as 
any guilty nigger.' 

" 'He'll cut off your head !' said the Bishop. 

"But after the services Jackson came forward and said: 
'You're the kind of a man I like.' And there was more 
respect for religion from that time on in that vicinity. 



208 WITH SPEAKER CANNON THROUGH THE TROPICS. 

"The physician along with the missionary played his part 
in those days," the Speaker said. ''He resorted to the old- 
fashioned remedies — calomel and quinine — and, if necessary, 
bleeding. God bless him ! He played his part. And the 
lawyer, he made for law and order in all communities 
that were calculated to disregard the law — and right royally 
he did his work. Some of the law reports of the pioneer 
judges of the IMiddle West have come to be recognized as 
classics in the profession — worthy deliberations of men 
whose earning power was insignificant, for the lawyer rarely 
earned a thousand dollars a year in those days. 

"It was worth a man's life then to bring into subjection 
eighty acres of ground ; the father and the mother and the 
children, products of the log cabin, must necessarily stand 
the test and stress of the times, be industrious, patriotic and 
physically strong. Necessity was a great teacher with the 
men and women of this type. The human animal makes real 
progress only where the hand of necessity has demonstrated 
its worth. Trace the development of people under pressure 
abroad. Oppression has but tested the metal of the race. 
\^'itness the strength and vigor and persistence of the Hol- 
lander, driven at last to the very dunes of the North Sea. 
To those pioneer days in the Middle West there is a tremend- 
ous obligation due by us all as a people, for upon the founda- 
tion laid by them in sacrifice and hardship, one generation 
has surpassed another until we have the best civilization the 
world over. 

"But Abraham Lincoln ! I was not an intimate, though I 
met him in '59, after his discussion with Douglas in '58. 
He was a leader of the type to which I refer, and his leader- 
ship, in my judgment, was much more difficult than that of 
Washington. He was of the border States, and grew up 
with them. His father was a ne'er-do-well, and his respon- 



THE ISIvAND 01? JAMAICA. 209 

sibilities were vastly increased on that acconnt. 'Can any 
good thing come out of Nazareth/ is the saving of old, and 
the answer, 'Come and see.' His lot was an unusually hard 
one. What learning he had was self-taught by the flickering 
light of the pine torch and the open fire in the log hut ; but he 
understood the common people, for he was of them. He 
became a surveyor, a clerk and a flat-boat operator. He 
traveled afoot and afloat and he knew how the great ques- 
tions of the time were affecting the border States. The 
principal theatre of the great struggle leading up to the Re- 
bellion was in the borderlands, and Lincoln was essentially 
a product of those lands. The people did not go into the 
agitation over the extension of slavery for the abolition of 
slavery, and Lincoln, understanding the people, did not 
move in that direction, except as necessity required. 

"The question of abolition was a little too slow for New 
York, maybe, but it was a little too fast for Indiana. It was 
necessary to move as the judgment of the people justified 
the move. Lincoln issued his famous Emancipation Procla- 
mation in September. He had written it fully three months 
before, and had held it until the opportunity to promulgate 
it had arrived. While he was waiting a distinguished dele- 
gation called, and to sound them out he asked if to issue such 
a proclamation would not be like 'the Pope's bull against the 
comet.' He sought to know what the people thought and to 
act in accordance with their sober judgment." 

The three great men of this trying time to whom Mr. 
Cannon gave credit for the safe direction of affairs were 
Lincoln, Oliver P. Morton, the War Governor of Indiana, 
and Ulysses S. Grant. He spoke of the manner in which 
money was raised in the East to support the policies of 
Lincoln in the West, and told of his personal observances 
in the Republican State Convention of Illinois after the 
Emancipation Proclamation had been issued. 

14 



2IO WITH SPEAKER CANNON THROUGH THE TROPICS. 

"The platform made no endorsement of Lincoln by name," 
he said, "there was no word bearing upon the Emancipation 
Proclamation. The program of the convention managers 
was going through and Lincoln was being ignored, when the 
distinguished L^nionist, Love joy, sprang to his feet. He 
seemed to be alone in his support of the great man in the 
White House. 

" 'Sit down !' cried the multitude. 

"Til not sit down!' answered Lovejoy. 'I made a vow 
when I stood over the body of my murdered brother that I 
would be heard upon this question, and I "a' ill be heard.' 

"For ten minutes," said Mr. Cannon, "poured from his 
lips such eloquence as I had never heard in human speech 
before, or since. He lifted the great audience to its feet, 
and when he proposed the amendment approving the Procla- 
mation and mentioning Lincoln by name, there were none to 
say him nay. His work accomplished, the man who thus 
bravely stood for the War President turned upon his audi- 
ence and said : 'I can now say with Simeon of old, ''let Thy 
servant depart in peace." 

In this manner Mr. Cannon talked on to the intense de- 
light of his audience, drifting ultimately into a description 
of the present conditions of the country and commenting 
gently upon the differences between the L^nited States and 
the governments under whose jurisdiction we had recently 
been. 

"A majority of the population of the country is now un- 
questionably in what was once known as the Middle West," 
he said. "It is the home of agriculture; and Chicago, the 
great central city of the Middle West, has grown to be the 
second manufacturing city in the L^nited States. ""•' But the 



* The Census Bureau gives Philadelphia second place as a manu- 
facturing city. Chicago is second in population and third in manu- 
factures. 



* the: island o:^ Jamaica. 211 

whole country has prospered. How wonderful it all seems 
to those who are considering the pioneer days. In the South 
we produce four times the amount of cotton that was pro- 
duced when slavery existed. The whir of the spindle in 
North and South Carolina and Georgia is as familiar as it is 
in the manufacturing center of New England. It is not that 
New England is going out of business, for she is doing more 
business than ever. W^are simply growing in all directions. 
The grand aggregate of the production of our country to- 
day equals one-third the production of the industries of the 
world. Ninety-five per cent, of the manufactured products 
of the United States is consumed within the United States. 
The little five per cent, of American products that goes 
abroad is sufficiently great to make the United States the 
greatest exporting country on earth." 

■ ''And yet," said the Speaker, solemnly, "we are not happy 
and never will be. Some of us want the millennium ; some of 
us don't want it. If there were nothing to strive for, ex- 
istence would Ijc intolerable." 

It was here the Speaker touched upon the countries 
through which we had just traveled. 

"There are serious problems ahead of these people. Look 
at Venezuela ; a fine country, rich in natural resources as any 
country in the world, but lacking men and women of the 
pioneer type of the Middle West; it needs courage, integrity 
and character ; men who can be good lovers as well as good 
haters. May it not happen before this twentieth century 
closes that our sons and grandsons, inspired by the spirit of 
the pioneers of the Middle West, may move down upon these 
beautiful mountains and fertile plateaus, civilizing, Christian- 
izing, industrializing and inspiring to noble achievement 
those who would take advantage of the opportunities the 
country afifords. Will they not help to make competent for 



212 WITH SPI^AKER CANNON THROUGH THE TROPICS. 

self-government the vast percentage of those whose restless 
and unsettled natures disqualify them from undertaking the 
responsibilities of government ! So throughout the West 
Indies may it not come to pass that men of strength and 
character of the type I have described shall enter into the 
development of those islands with the same fortitude and 
courage and high purpose that inspired the men of the Mid- 
dle West, for unless some such Christianizing, civilizing and 
government-respecting influence does manifest itself, and 
that, too, under the auspices of our own great government, 
with its eighty-five millions of contented people, the future of 
these islands will be problematical. Without stable gov- 
ernment men Avill fear for the protection of their lives as well 
as their property. No peoples incapable of self-government, 
incapable of successfully governing themselves, of maintain- 
ing the law and order of their own communities, are compe- 
tent to govern others." 

Mr. Cannon closed with the thought that the day would 
come when the United States would exercise its benign in- 
fluence over the entire West Indies, and with the hope that 
if it did not come in his time, he might be able to look down 
upon generations of prosperous people celebrating the 
glorious day that annexed them to the United States. 

As we approached Jamaica, fairest of all England's pos- 
sessions in the Antilles, we saw little patches of coral stick- 
ing out of the water, on one patch a single palm tree, on 
another a fisherman's shack. On this dreary waste of the 
Caribbean Sea, a man in a tiny dory was sailing away as 
thoughtlessly as though he were in a creek. He was beyond 
sight of land. The numerous reefs and cays approaching 
Jamaica make navigation dangerous. Every earthquake 
jars the bottom and creates land or takes it away. 

Outside the harbor of Kingston, the sport of the waves, 



THi: ISLAND 01? JAMAICA. 213 

lay two beached ships. One of them was the magnificent 
twin-screw steamship, Prinzessin Victoria Louise, of the 
Hamburg-American hne. The Bluechcfs party would 
probably have made their trip in her, had she returned to 
New York. The story was a sad one, for although her pas- 
sengers were safely landed, the loss of the vessel so dis- 
tressed the captain that rather than face his employers he 
blew out his brains. 

At a snail's pace we crept into the harbor of Kingston, a 
harbor so extensive, it is claimed, that it could hold the 
navies of the world ; a harbor, too, that had sheltered the 
vessels of England and the world when New York was waste 
land. The two wrecked vessels were themselves a warning, 
but the earthquake of January 24th, only two months before, 
had changed the surface conditions and made it necessary 
to go slow. We were not long in detecting evidences of the 
earthquake. On one side of the harbor were sunken fortifi- 
cations — on the Port Royal side cocoanut trees were standing 
out in the sea, their green leaves turned to yellow. The ten- 
nis court of the commandant had gone under with the point 
of the peninsula ; buildings had tottered ; wharves were 
twisted and broken, and Port Royal generally was in dis- 
tress. 

But Port Royal was not unaccustomed to seismic disturb- 
ance. In the days of the buccaneers, when Jamaica was the 
rallying ground for men of the Morgan stamp. Port Royal, 
now the nearest approach to Kingston, was a famous place. 
"Low, rakish craft," of the traditional black flag type, came 
gliding in from all directions, their crews jolly or morose, 
according as their expedition had resulted. Then might was 
right and power made the law. In time the city grew. 
Priests came and built a church, but along in 1692, the earth 
trembled and sank. The church, and many of the houses 



2T4 WITT! SPKAKI^R CANNON TlTROUGTI TTTTv TROnCS. 

surrounding it, dropped into the harbor and the waters 
closed over them. 

About the Caribbean Sea there is such a pecuhar clarity 
that the submerged settlement was plainly visible as late as 
1835, ^1^^^ t^"*^ superstitious said you might hear the bell in 
the church steeple toll on a stormy night, or before the en- 
actment of some deed of violence. Even now parties of 
visitors, rowing over the place where the Port Royal church 




MYRTLE BANK HOTEL, KINGSTON. 



once stood, peer into the deep water with glasses designed 
for that purpose, and exclaim : 

"I think I see it !" 

The disaster to Port Royal determined the location of 
Kingston. It was built at the end of the harbor, close up to 
the mountains, where a quake of the earth might not so 
easily slide it into the sea. But the ways of Providence are 
inscrutible. ''Man proposes and God disposes." With all 
her precautions, Kingston was not to be spared. The visita- 



TITJ^ ISI^ANl) OL- JAMAICA. 215 

tion of January 14, 1907, had laid her low. Our landing 
was on the morning of March 21st, so that we were close 
upon the heels of the disaster. In moderate tremors the 
quake had continued to manifest its presence during the two 
intervening months. Evidently some new fissure under the 
earth's surface was being closed. Nor had the people quite 
recovered their e(|uipoise. They were still wondering and 
wandering, and they had good reason to be unsettled. 

Their wharves and docks were broken., many of theni unfit 
for use. About 7,500 of their houses had Ix'en destroyed 
or damaged, iiftv acres of the business section had been 
burned over after the earth([uake, and 800 of the people 
had been killed. Everywhere were broken buildings, cellar 
walls and piles of brick and mortar. Twisted wires and 
bits of iron added to the general scene of desolation and 
waste. Some of the streets had been cleared of debris, but 
n^any of them were still mixed up with the ruins, defying 
metes and bounds. 

In the business quai'ter esj^ecially the scene was appalling. 
Scarcely a warehouse w^as left. King Street, the main busi- 
ness thoroughfare of Kingston, which, three months before, 
was as flourishing as the bay tree, was a total ruin. Not a 
house, nor a store, nor a building of any kind was standing 
throughout its length. 

There were some remarkable things about the earthquake. 
The statue of Queen Victoria, at the farther end of the street, 
was twisted on its pedestal. The bottom of the statue was 
not displaced and the statue itself had not been damaged. 
The quake had evidently fallen upon the stone between the 
pedestal and the statue. The force of the shock, generally, 
it appeared, was felt most severely a few feet above the 
ground. It was like a dog shaking a rat. Everything above 
is serene and everything below is serene, but there is plenty 
doing in the middle. 



2l6 WITH SPKAKlvR CANNON THROUGH THlt TROPICS. 

I saw brick gate posts with ornate tops. The head-pieces 
and the foundations were in perfect condition, but there 
were holes and broken bricks in the center. 

The effect upon the streets was curious. In San Fran- 
cisco the car-tracks were torn and twisted and streets gaped ; 
in Kingston, not a track was out of place ; not a street broken. 
It is said that somewhere back in the mountains a fissure did 
appear, but in Kingston itself, aside from the sunken 





4;,^^ils^r 


Jh»^'-'^- "'^'^ _. 


4^^. "' 1 ^' " ■ ■'^^iW 1 


BH|»*'^^' _ .^-;. --V^:.^^ 








- ,._.._,.. ^wmrfSiammail^am^^^KKM 



STATUE OF VICTORIA, KINGSTON. 
[Turued bj^ Earthquake.] 



wharves and the sunken point at Port Royal, the earth gave 
no indication of what had taken place. 

One of the chief tasks to which the authorities of Kingston 
applied themselves after the earthquake was the disposal of 
bodies found in the ruins. Because of the climate the danger 
of pestilence was great. Trenches were dug and cart loads 
of the dead were dumped into them. There is reason to 
believe that kerosene was poured over some of those ap- 



TlUC IST,AND 01? JAMAICA. 217 

proaching deconiposition and that they were burned. The 
excitement concerning dead bo(Ues was pronounced at the 
beginning, but as the latter accumulated, those in charge of 
the work were obliged to move quickly, and the proprieties 
of burial, in some cases, may have been forgotten. It was a 
time when sympathy played small part in the proceedings,, 
and doubtless some harsh expedients were resorted to. 

The great majority of the dead were negroes, many of 
them practically homeless. It was in handling these bodies 
the workers became callous to the conditions. 

''We had to think of the living," said one of the men who 
had been engaged in the work. 

"Don't you think there is still danger of pestilence from 
bodies in the ruins?" I asked. 

"No, not now; the lime in those brick piles has taken care 
of that." 

With Dr. Keely, who had a letter of introduction to Mr. 
Haggart, a representative of large steamship interests in 
Kingston, I called at the once attractive Jamaica Club. 
Prior to the earthquake the Jamaica Club had been the 
Union League of Jamaica. There was very little left of it. 
Dust, bricks, mortar, beams and tangled wires greeted us. 
The tin roof was hanging to the floor of the main hall and 
there was no wind to shake it. Mr. Haggart made his ap- 
pearance from a small room that had evidently served as a 
kitchen, and with him came Mr. Vickers, a member of the 
Jamaica Parliament, and a former member, Mr. Cork. Sev- 
eral other members also sauntered in — they wanted to be 
hospitable, but it was difficult. Everybody was hot and dusty 
and the single attendant was badly rattled. Presently the 
Scotch and soda made its appearance. We wiped the white 
dust from the single table that remained and then began to 
swap stories. The Jamaicans told us of their club. On the 



2l8 VVJTI] SPJvAKr.R CANNON TlIROUCir TIN-: TROPICS. 

day of the earthquake a laroe dinner was being- given in the 
main hall, where the tin roof now settled against the debris, 
in honor of Governor Swettenham and several members of 
the British Parliament, who had come to Jamaica to 
discuss postal matters. Fortunately the dinner was over 
and most of the guests had retired when the earthquake 
came. One member who had been playing billiards was 
struck by a falling beam. His brains dropped over the 
ground where he fell. A recital of horrors followed and 
o-ave such a melancholv touch to the conversation that Keelv 



and I began to take the other side. Johnstown had lost 
more people, and look at San Pierre ! Better quit mourning 
and cheer up ! 

''My word," said Cork, "I just happened to think. Do 
you recall old Blank, who was playing billiards upstairs? 
He was caught behind the barriers. I had to get up to him 
with a ladder. He just had room enough to wave his arms 
above his head, and he was still doing it when I arrived. 
'Look out for the bricks !' he was saying. Xook out for the 
bricks !' " 

"I am glad," said Vickers, "that you gentlemen came along. 
We've lost our bearings since the earthquake ; we've been in 
a stupor." 

"What did you do on the Post Office site to-day," asked 
one of the newcomers of A'^ickers. 

It was so like home I paused to listen, for Vickers had 
come in from Savanna-la-j\Iar, to attend a Parliamentary 
conference that day. 

"As usual," he said, "the Governor had his way." 

We left the Club now to pursue our own inquiries. 
Jamaica, we learned, is possessed of a population of 700,000 
blacks as against only about 14,000 whites. The same pro- 
portion holds in Kingston, wdiere the total population prior to 



.11- . JUHpi'ifii'liJi 




the: isIvAnd o^ Jamaica. 221 

the earthquake was about 70,000. There were 1,700 soldiers 
on the island, of whom 300 were white, and in Kingston 250 
policemen— all negroes. A possible uprising of the blacks 
was therefore a matter of some concern to the whites after 
the excitement of the great shock had subsided. It took 
but 31 seconds to wreck the city. 

"The shock," said a leading citizen, ''began exactly at 3.30 
o'clock on the afternoon of the fateful January 14th. The 
force of it was tremendous, and I cannot understand why it 
did not break the streets, as earthquakes usually do. It 
seemed as though the ground were rising up to meet you, 
and many people were thrown down as they walked. 

''For one brief moment, those of us who were in the busi- 
ness section could see the houses tumbling, and then the white 
dust which as you see still covers the city, filled the air. It 
was as impenetrable to the eye as the thickest London fog. 
I give you my word, you could not see your hand in front of 
your face, during the three minutes that this dust lasted, 

"And, in the awful darkness, people were rushing about 
like mad, bumping into one another and striking at one 
another. The injured were shrieking for help and the wildest 
pandemonium reigned, where, but a moment before, every- 
thing was peaceful and quiet. 

"Before the dust had settled, the whites began to quake in 
their boots for fear of a negro uprising, but fortunately the 
negroes were too badly freightened to think of such a thing. 
They imagined the world was coming to an end, and they 
flocked to their churches— to any church that they could find 
— to pray. 

"They dropped down on their knees in the middle of the 
streets, shouting out supplications for mercy and loudly 
lamenting their past sins. Revolution was the last thing 
they thought about at that moment, and by the time they had 



222 WITH SPEAKER CAXXOX THROUGH THE TROPICS. 

recovered from their terror the American war vessels had 
arrived. Ah, but we were glad to see those ships ! 

"You see the negroes here are on an entirely different 
plane from those in the. United States. The whites do not 
have the inherent antipathy for them that they seem to have 
in some parts of your country. It is not at all uncommon for 
a respectable white man here to marry a negress, but for all 
that we have learned to dread the black man. There have 
been some bloody revolts here, and only the knowledge of 
the unshakable power of England keeps the vast negro 
population in check. 

"Many of them are rovers, most of them are illegitimate, 
and this means that the majority of the people have no bind- 
ing familv ties." 

But what of Swettenham ! Swettenham, the overwrought 
Governor who turned aside the succor offered by the United 
States in the hour of Kingston's trial ! He was still in the 
saddle as King Edward's representative, but his recall had 
been announced and he was soon to go. O, wdiat a mess he 
made of it ! It chanced on the very morning the terrible 
news from Kingston stirred the people of the United States 
that something in the line of my Congressional duty took me 
to the office of the Assistant Secretary of the Xavy in \\^ash- 
ington. 

"Excuse me," said ]\Ir. Xewberry, at a sudden call from 
the telephone. "This is a matter of great importance." 

It was indeed ! for word had come from the AMiite House 
and gone through the Departments of the Army and Navy 
that, as the United States was so much nearer the stricken 
city than the mother country, the spirit of humanity de- 
manded that help should be rushed to Kingston with all 
possible speed — for if England should be nearer than we to 
a stricken island of the United States as much mis^ht be ex- 



THE ISLAND 01^ JAMAICA. 223 

pected of her. It was not a matter of parley, nor of standing 
upon "the order of going ;'' "but, go at once !" commanded 
the President. When Mr. Newberry resumed his interview 
with me he spoke of vessels of the United vStates loaded with 
provisions, now upon their way. 

Before the day closed, I also remembered, the same 
Tawney now accompanying Speaker Cannon upon this tour 
of the West Indies, arose in his place, and, obtaining the 
Speaker's recognition, moved that Congress approve the 
action that had been taken. There was no dissent, but on 
the contrary the sympathetic heart-beats of the great Ameri- 
can nation then went out to Kingston and her afflicted people. 

"Dear Admiral," wrote Swettenham, to Rear Admiral 
Davis, the representative of the good wishes of the United 
States on this occasion, "Thanks very much for your letter, 
your kind call and all of the assistance given or offered us. 
While I most heartily appreciate the very generous offers of 
assistance, I feel it my duty to ask you to re-embark the 
working party and all parties which your kindness prompted 
you to land. 

"If in consideration of the American Vice Consul's assidu- 
ous attention to his family at his country house the American 
Consulate needs guarding in your opinion, although he was 
present and it was not guarded an hour ago, I have no objec- 
tion to your detailing a force for the sole purpose of guard- 
ing ; but the party must have no firearms and nothing more 
offensive than clubs or staves for this function. 

"I find your working party was this morning helping Mr. 
Crosswell clean his store. Crosswell was delighted that 
the work was done without cost. If your Excellency should 
remain long enough I am sure all the private owners would 
be glad of the services of the navy to save expense. 

"It is no longer a question of humanity; all of the dead 



224 wiTi-i spi:aki;r cannon through the: tropics. 

died days ago and the work of giving them burial is merely 
one of convenience. 

"I would be glad to accept delivery of the safe, which it 
is alleged thieves had possession of. The American \^ice 
Consul has no knowledge of it ; the store is close to a sentry 
post, and the officer of the post professes ignorance of the 
incident. 

"I believe the police surveillance of the city is adequate 
for the protection of private property. I may remind your 
Excellency that not long ago it was discovered that thieves 
had lodged in and pillaged the residence of some New York 
millionaires during their absence in the summer, but this 
would not have justified a British Admiral landing an armed 
party and assisting the New York police. 

"Ai,i:xande:r Swe:ttenham, 

''Governor." 

It was a foolish letter and the world at once placed its 
estimate upon the writer, but we found that, while the people 
of Jamaica had been amazed and pained at the stand taken 
by their Governor, he was not without friends. Those who 
were charitable said he was honest and had been long in the 
service. "His family was driven from home and was living 
in tents ; his mind was overwrought," they said. Then, 
again, they referred to the danger of uprising and the fear 
that the landing of the American marines would incite the 
natives to disparage the power of England to manage her 
own affairs. They talked of the unfortunate salute when 
Swettenham departed from the Admiral's ship and excused 
the Governor for his hasty temper because of the general 
confusion — but they did not defend his letter — not one. 
They simply regretted his act in turning away from a needy 
people the hand that came to feed them. In the Kingston 
Daily Telegraph, on the day of our arrival, the correspond- 



THE ISLAND O^ JAMAICA. 225 

ence between the Governor and Lord Elgin, Secretary of 
State for the Colonies, concerning the efforts to restore the 
city, was published. The Governor was full of argument 
and precedent. On the question of raising revenue in which 
he clashed with prominent citizens, he was finally told by 
Lord Elgin he ''must clearly understand" the Imperial Gov- 
ernment meant to maintain the position it had taken. But 
the fairest index to the Governor's position appeared in the 
Telegraph's leading editorial. "The proceedings in the Leg- 
islative Council yesterday," it said, "showed that the sooner 
Jamaica has a Governor who knows his own mind, and is 
prepared to carry out a policy which approves itself to him, 
the better it will be for the colony. The plans of the present 
administration seem to be in a somewhat chaotic condition — 
at least, some of them are ; and we see no hope of an improve- 
ment in the situation until a new Governor is installed in 
office, and authorized to go straight ahead. * * * The 
state of chaos into which things are now drifting is creditable 
neither to the ruling officials nor to the representatives of 
the people. Jamaica clearly requires a strong man at the 
head of its affairs, for it is to be feared that the situation will 
not improve until such a man arrives." 

Notwithstanding even this "home view" of the Governor, 
it was the concensus of opinion that our party should treat 
the whole matter broadly, and, accordingly, Busbey, as the 
Speaker's representative, and I called at the Government 
House, or what remained of it, to leave cards for the entire 
delegation. We were received by the Colonial Secretary, 
who was cordial and apparently well-pleased with the call. 
But the visit was brief, for the reason that the dust was too 
thick. Black workmen were doing their best to restore certain 
rooms of the building and black women were carrying the 
hod. The latter handled the big boxes of mortar and 

15 



226 WITH SPE:aKKR CANNON THROUGH THE TROPICS. 

mounted the ladders with the ease with which most women 
carry a baby. They seemed to sympathize with the men. 

It reminded me of the Irishman who wrote of his American 
experiences to his friends at home : 

''It's a great country," he said. "You've only to carry the 
hod to the top av the buildin' and the man up there does all 
the work." 

The morning of Friday, March 22, came hot as the breath 
of the desert It was a dreadfully oppressive atmosphere, 
more so than we had experienced at any time on the trip, 
and our thin clothes afforded little relief. On this uncom- 
fortable day a ship came in with American papers contain- 
ing the news of a financial cyclone in the stock market and 
of an eleven-inch snowfall in Philadelphia. Neither piece of 
information brought us much comfort. The Blnechers pas- 
sengers were languid and depressed. Some of them took 
side trips to St. Ann's, Spanish Town and other neighboring 
points of interest, but the Congressional party stayed around 
Kingston. We rode to Constant Springs Hotel on the trol- 
ley, about six miles out, and found that some of the walls 
had fallen during the earthquake. 

The Speaker was fanning himself on the porch and view- 
ing the scenery, when several gentlemen alighted from a 
carriage. 

"Hello, it's Metcalf !" said he, as the Secretary of the 
Navy came forward. 

"Yes, we heard you were here, and didn't want to leave 
without seeing you." 

"How did you come ?" 

"On the Dolphin — she's tied up alongside of your 
steamer." 

Accompanying the Secretary were United States Senators 
Hale, of Maine ; Penrose, of Pennsylvania ; Carter, of Mon- 



the: ISI.AND 01? JAMAICA. 227 

tana, and Flint, of California. They had gone out to watch 
the target practice of the Atlantic fleet off Santa Cruz. 

"I never saw such marksmanship in my life," said the 
Secretary. 

The Senators, too, spoke highly of the work of the Ameri- 
can gunners. 

''Dinner! Bless your soul, yes!" How better could two 
distinguished bodies of American tourists fraternize? And 
with the Governor of Jamaica, too ! The same Governor 
Swettenham who had so rudely brushed aside the best in- 
tentions of a nation. The Governor had called. Like 
other men who make mistakes or get misunderstood, he was 
all right when brought face to face. There is, after all, some 
good in most of us. 

"The Governor did the right thing in the wrong way," 
volunteered someone to the Speaker after the dinner. 

But always ready and ever careful, the Speaker answered : 

''He is a dignified and pleasant gentleman." 

The reference to the Governor reminded me of his lengthy 
correspondence with Lord Elgin. In discussing the pro- 
posed Imperial Loan and the inability of the island to raise 
more revenue, the Governor had written : 

''Our Customs duties are already too high, being i6 2-3 
ad valorem, or if rateable duties be considered also, about 24 
per cent, on the total nominal value of imports." 

I thought of this in relation to England as a "free trade" 
country. How much was it for free trade ? The Telegraph 
that very day reported the opinion of commercial delegates 
from Canada who had been touring the Windward and Lee- 
ward Islands. They wanted a reciprocal arrangement with 
the West Indies. For what reason, pray? Because "at 
present, Canada is not receiving fair play in the West 
Indies !" because "the tariffs press more hardly on the 



228 WITH SPEAKI^R CANNON THROUGH THE TROPICS. 

products of the Dominion than on the manufactured goods of 
the mother country." It was suggested ''that the manufac- 
tures and products of Canada should be placed on the same 
basis as all other British products." 

*'We do not know precisely how the matter stands in our 
sister colonies to the east of the Caribbean Sea," said the 
editor of the Telegraph, ''but we do know that, as far as the 
tariff of Jamaica is concerned, the Canadians have just 
grounds of complaint against our Government. If our 
schedules of import duties are closely scrutinized, it will be 
found (roughly speaking) that the minimum amounts have 
to be paid on manufactured goods and the maximum 
amounts on flour, meat, food products, or, generally speak- 
ing, the necessaries of life. Now, the mother country is our 
principal source of supply for all manufactured goods — cloth- 
ing, hats, dress materials, etc. On the other hand, the United 
States and Canada are our chief sources of supply for the 
necessaries of life. But whereas the goods which are manu- 
factured in England come into this island on an import duty 
basis of i6 2-3 per cent., flour has to pay a specific duty of 
two dollars per barrel, and kerosene oil has to pay a specific 
duty which works out at something like 120 per cent. It is 
not difficult to perceive that such a state of affairs, when fully 
understood, must be the reverse of satisfactory to the ex- 
porters both of America and Canada. Within recent years, 
the Dominion has been granting a preference to sugar pro- 
duced in the British West Indies, with the result that practi- 
cally the whole of the sugar manufactured in this island is 
now going to Halifax, instead of New York. Canada, how- 
ever, enjoys no reciprocal advantage. If it is taking a larger 
percentage of our total exports, it is not sending any more of 
its products to our shores in exchange for them. And the 
Canadians naturally say: Why should we bolster up the 



THE ISLAND OF JAMAICA. 229 

trade of the West Indian colonies if the effect is simply to 
enable the colonists to import larger quantities of manufac- 
tured articles from Great Britain ? The people of the United 
States have still more reason to complain. They allow all 
the bananas grown in this island to enter American ports 
duty free ; and banana growing is now the principal industry 
of Jamaica. They are content, however, to take the bulk of 
our products and to send us a comparatively small percentage 
of our imports. And, as long as they refrain from raising 
the question of reciprocal trade, we in Jamaica need not 
trouble our heads over it. But the Canadian delegates have 
raised the question ; and we have no doubt the Government 
of Jamaica, in common with the governments of all our 
sister colonies in the West Indies, will yet hear more about it. 
What answer shall we be able to return to their inquiries and 
complaints ? We shall have to acknowledge that their griev- 
ance is well founded — and then set out to revise our inequit- 
able tariff schedules." 

I make this excerpt because it ought to be interesting to 
the students of the American tariff system. There are those 
who would lower our bars and bring us closer to ''free trade 
England." Again I ask ''how much is England for free 
trade ?" In this beautiful island of more than 700,000 people 
the principal industry, which is that of raising bananas, is 
controlled by Americans. The principal market for this out- 
put is the United States, and the fruit is admitted free of 
duty. Against the manufactures of the United States the 
bars are up. We are the nearest neighbors of the island, 
and yet Great Britain keeps her supplied with manufactures, 
even to the prejudice of Canada — her own offspring. I am 
not finding fault with Great Britain. I believe in a protec- 
tive tariff-, but the "free trade tariff" that prevails in Jamaica 
and the British West Indies generally is an object lesson for 
tariff tinkerers in the United States. 



230 WITH spi:ake:r cannon through th^ tropics. 

I wandered through Kingston in a thoughtful mood. The 
''energy" of the Northern people compared with that of the 
inhabitants of the warmer climates ! The willingness and 
worth of the negro of the states and the shiftlessness of the 
tropical brand ! A local authority told of "the progress of 
the peasantry in Jamaica ;" told how prize offerings had 
stimulated the peasants to grow coffee, till their soil and cure 
their products — but then came a gentleman from Man- 




Earthquake; wreck, Kingston. 



Chester who said that the competitions had been held in the 
parish with "no results." 

I was hoping for the "peasantry" of Jamaica — they have a 
glorious country, prolific in vegetation — but around the 
race course outside of Kingston, in the wake of the earth- 
quake, I saw hundreds of them huddled, doing nothing. 
The government had given them the open space and they 
had set up a village upon it — a village of houses made of 
sticks and covered with burlap, rags and tin. No, there 



the: ISI.AND 01^ JAMAICA. 23 1 

were tents which the United States had loaned the Colonial 
Government (the return of which, I fear, is too delicate a 
suggestion to be advanced) — for the worthier and more in- 
dustrious people. I saw the women with their bundles going 
to market ; the donkey loads of bananas, of yams and sugar- 
cane ; of Jamaica ginger and Jamaica rum. They came and 
went as though the world had given them all that was coming 
to them. I stepped into the house of a hatmaker — a dealer 
in jippa-jappa — which is the local brand of Panama. On 
the walls were pictures of Christ and the Apostles and 
mottoes of the Wesleyan faith. 

"I am glad to see you cling to those," I said. 

''Yes, sir. I trust in the Lord for the welfare of my 
people." 

It was the industrious black man doing his best. 

Then, again, I talked with a business man. He was be- 
moaning the attitude of the insurance companies which de- 
layed the work of restoration in the business center by 
raising the earthquake clause. 

"Will you get together?" I asked. 

"I hope so; for two months we've done nothing." 

But a brighter story was that of the Scotchman, He had 
built up a business worth i8o,ooo ($400,000). Buildings he 
owned were leveled with the ground. His safe was lost, his 
securities, his stocks and his bonds were burned, his busi- 
ness was wiped out and his beautiful home destroyed. In 
the space of half an hour the work of a lifetime was undone 
and he found himself in the same position he was when, a 
poor boy he started out to climb the ladder to fortune. He 
could still prove title to a small amount of ground in the 
burned district, but at the present time it was virtually value- 
less and he had no money to improve it. If he could ex- 
change that property for the hopefulness and the enthusiasm 



232 WITH spe;aki:r cannon through the tropics. 

and the vim with which he began to fight his way he would 
gladly do so. But, far from giving up, he had gone out into 
the country and started a little store. The people were com- 
ing to him. 

"He'll get it all back," said the man who told me the story. 
''He's a crafty old fellow ; honest, you know, but very shrewd 
and a regular Yankee for hustling." 



CHAPTER IX. 

COLON AND PANAMA. 

The Sailors Lament — Rising of the Tide — The Canal Arouses 
Interest — Our Purchase from the French — A Revolution That 
Worked Our Way — Hot Day at Colon — A Halt in the Program — 
Quarantined for Yellow Fever — The Obstinacy of Gorgas — The 
World's Canal Primer — Tragic History of the Isthmus — 
Gambling as an Expedient — Effective Sanitary Work — Expelling 
the Deadly Mosquito — American Methods in Favor — Condition 
of the Laborers — The "Terrible"' Chagres and the Lock System — 
Gatun Town and Dam — Culebra Cut and the Artificial Lakes — 
Opinions of the Engineers. 

As we drew away from Kingston, viewing sadly its vast 
area of charred buildings, its dreary piles of brick and 
mortar, the situation reminded me of "The Sailor's Consola- 
tion," a poem attributed to William Pitt, "master attendant 
at Jamaica Dock Yard, and afterward at Malta," who died 
in 1840. Observe how it fits : 

"One night came on a hurricane, 

The sea was mountains rolling, 
When Barney Buntline chewed his quid, 

And said to Billy Bowline : 
'A strong nor'wester s blowing. Bill ; 

Hark ! don't you hear it roar now ? 
Lord help 'em, how I pities t4iem 

Unhappy folks on shore now ! 

" 'Fool-hardy chaps as lives in towns. 
What danger they are all in, 
And now lie quaking in their beds. 
For fear the roof should fall in r 

235 



236 WITH SPE;AKE:r cannon THROUGH THE) TROPICS. 

Poor creatures ! how they envy us, ' 

And wishes, I've a notion, 
For our good luck in such a storm 

To be upon the ocean ! 

" 'And as for them that's out all day, 

On business from their houses, 
And late at night returning home. 

To cheer their babes and spouses ; 
While you and I, Bill, on the deck. 

Are comfortably lying, 
My eyes ! what tiles and chimney-pots 

About their heads are flying ! 

" 'Both you and I have oft times heard 

•How men are killed and undone. 
By overturns from carriages 

By thieves, and fires in London, 
We know what risks these landsmen run, 

From noblemen to tailors. 
Then, Bill, let us thank Providence 

That you and I are sailors.' " 

Kingston was about eighteen degrees above the Equator. 
It had impressed us as a very hot place, and although we 
took to the ship for another long run at sea, we had our 
misgivings, for we were bound for Colon, on the north coast 
of the Panama strip, more than eight degrees below. We had 
learned enough by this time, however, to know that the ship 
and the free winds of the sea were much more restful and 
invigorating than were the hot and dusty cities of the West 
Indies. We had not gone far before the discovery was 
made that one of the passengers was missing. The disci- 
pline of the ship, inimediately after we had left the harbor, 
brought the fact to light. The passenger, too, happened 
to be a woman — Miss Keating, an artist — who had gone to 
her state room before we left the dock, and had returned 



COLON AND PANAMA. 237 

to the shore on some sudden call, unnoticed by the steward. 
We sympathized with the young lady, at the same time 
congratulating her and ourselves that neither she nor any 
of us had been left at even a more remote point than 
Kingston. 

All day Saturday, March 23d, we were at sea pursuing 
a course almost due South. The spirit of revelry, this day, 
first disported itself in comments by the Congressional party 
upon the sudden rise in Olcott's trousers. It was a matter 
of general comment, as the stalwart form of the New Yorker 
perambulated the deck, that not only his trousers, but his 
entire crash suit were moving rapidly upward as the heat 
increased. 

''Think of it!" Olcott had said. "I got the whole suit 
for $2.16." 

''Tide's going up, Olcott," said Tawney, when the lower 
end of the trousers overtopped the canvas shoes of the 
letter carriers' friend. 

"But what can you expect at such a price?" was the polite 
rejoinder. 

"You can't expect much," broke in the Speaker, "but you 
can respect the proprieties. Moreover, if you drop into the 
New York stores next summer, you will probably buy that 
kind of a suit for less money." 

Olcott held out bravely for some time, but eventually 
went below, only to reappear in conventional white duck. 

As the day wore on, it became evident that Panama had 
been the chief point of interest to every passenger on the 
ship. Somehow or other, everyone was interested, whether 
from motives of pride or curiosity. Historical works upon 
Panama were produced, and a number of copies of the 
President's illustrated message to Congress made their 
appearance. Scrugg's "The Colombian and Venezuelan 



238 WITH SPKAKSR CANNON THROUGH THi: TROPICS. 

Republics" and George Kennan's "The Tragedy of Pelee" 
now gave wa}^ to public documents and engineering treatises 
upon the all-absorbing topic. Of our party, Mann appeared 
the best posted, and, as a consequence, soon became the 
man of the hour. He held together so many little knots 
of auditors that the Entertainment Committee, without his 
knowledge, finally got together and posted an announce- 
ment that there would be an entertainment in the grand 
salon in the evening, and that Mr. Mann would address the 
party upon ''The Panama Canal." 

That evening we put Olcott in the chair and had him 
make the introductory speech. It was one of those gems of 
Presbyterian fortitude which induce a man, when called 
upon, to perform his duty, regardless of his own inclinations 
or the state of humidity — for it certainly was a humid 
night. Then Mann opened up upon the P'anama Canal. 
Perspiring freely with every paragraph, he unfolded the 
history and general scheme of the canal as it had been 
developed successively by the French and the Americans. 
The completion of the work, as he viewed it, was our duty 
to civilization. There were great engineering difficulties, 
but they would be overcome, and ultimately the United 
States would "divorce the two continents of North and 
South America, and marry the Atlantic to the Pacific 
Ocean." Mr. Hulme, one of the passengers, who had been 
over the canal several times, added a few humorous com- 
ments upon the historical features of the canal from the time 
of Balboa down. It was too hot that night for singing in 
the cabin, and the entertainment consisted solely of the 
addresses, but, after leaving the room, Mann was obliged 
to w^alk the decks until midnight, receiving the congratula- 
tions of those whom he had enlightened upon the subject. 
In fact, the interest manifested was remarkable. 



COI.ON AND PANAMA. 239 

Early Sunday morning, March 24th, filled with strange 
anticipations, we approached Colon. We had traversed the 
Atlantic Ocean ; had gone through the Bahama Islands ; 
through the Windward and Leeward group ; we had seen 
great mountain peaks rising from the body of the ocean ; 
we had inspected many islands sufficiently populated to 
encourage the highest ideals of civilization ; we had read 
and re-read the stories of the governments under which 
they had existed ; we had wondered whether these islands and 
mountain peaks were not, in fact, all that remained of the 
"Lost Atlantis;" whether we had not actually ploughed 
our way through the waters that had rushed in upon the 
valleys and the lowlands, over the Caribbean Sea and the 
Gulf of Mexico — and again, after an absence of twenty days 
from the United States, we were about to touch upon 
American soil. In every island visited, whether the govern- 
ment had been directed by Great Britain, by France, by 
Venezuela, or by Denmark, we had been received with open 
arms and treated with great respect and courtesy. 

But we were coming back to our own land. We had not 
controlled it long; we got it by clever diplomacy, but we 
were coming back to our own, to the yoke which bound 
the continent of North America to that of South America — 
and it was a part of the United States. 

How did we get it? The French had obtained a conces- 
sion for the construction of a canal across the Isthmus of 
Panama, which was a part of the territory of Colombia. 
The French had given up the job of construction ; they were 
willing to sell out, and we had made a good bargain with 
them ; we had taken over rights and property that had cost 
the French investors $260,000,000, and we had paid only 
$40,000,000 for them, but we had yet to obtain control of 
the strip of land that it was necessary for us to obtain to 
enable us to proceed successfully. 



240 WITH SPE:aKI:r cannon THROUGH THE TROPICS. 

It is all over now, but it is interesting, nevertheless, and 
particularly so as our own interests might be affected in 
the Island of Cuba, for instance, should we let go our hold 
there and give free reign to a local government that would 
then be free to deal against us with foreign powers. There 
were political leaders in Colombia, and there were others in 
Panama, and the United States was desirous of obtaining 
peaceful control of the Panama Zone. But Colombia had 
been obtaining splendid royalties out of her possessions in 
Panama, and she wanted to have them continued. 

How was that problem met? The story is worth telhng. 
There was a revolt in Panama ; the people declared their 
independence of Colombia. The Panamaneans sunk a 
couple of Colombian ships ; the independence of the 
Republic of Panama was recognized by the United States ; 
the new Republic voted the canal strip, ten miles in width, 
from ocean to ocean, to the United States — and Colombia 
withdrew to mind her own business. 

All this occurred during the first term of the present 
President of the United States. Since then, under his 
vigorous administration, with the hearty support of 
Congress, we had poured men and money into the Canal 
Zone until the whole world had proceeded to ''sit up and 
take notice." Yes, the Panama Zone, ten miles wide from 
the Caribbean Sea, on the Colon side, to the Gulf of Panama, 
on the Pacific side, was now the property of the United 
States. How many men were dying there? How much 
money was being spent there by our Government? What 
progress were we making? All these things were now to 
be revealed to us, and, moreover, we were again to place 
our feet upon our native heath. 

The sun rose out of a dry mist on Sunday morning when 
we pulled into the Bay of Uimon. We were all on deck 



COLON AND PANAMA. 24I 

promptly at seven o'clock, dressed in the lightest garments, 
some of us gasping for air. A few hundred yards away 
from our anchorage lay the town of Colon. Neither it nor 
the City of Panama, on the other side of the strip, belong 
to the United States, but they are within the Panama Zone 
and subject to American regulation in the matter of police 
and fire protection, and what is more important — sanitation. 
In the deal between the governments, political jurisdiction 
over both these cities was reserved to the Government of 
Panama. 

What a low town Colon looked to be! Fringed with a 
thin line of palm trees, broken by wharves, docks, shipping, 
and one-story huts. Over toward Cristobal was a fine 
house, formerly of de Lesseps, the French engineer, and 
near it a statue of our imperishable friend — Columbus. 
The Bay of Limon in which we anchored was shallow. It 
was impossible at times, the Captain said, to maintain 
anchorage there, because of the fierce winds, which drove 
the ships to sea. 

"This is the way I long have sought, and mourned 
because I found it not." 

It was the Speaker's voice, and the good old Methodist 
air was climbing above his matutinal cigar as he came 
swinging along the deck, throwing his eyes into the vista 
that held the interest of us all. 

"At last we're here, Mr. Speaker," said the good-natured, 
but expectant, passengers, "and we can see for ourselves." 

But something was wrong at the gangway. Eversman 
was waving his arms excitedly, and Busbey was giving vent 
to dignified, but forceful, sentiments. The Captain, whose 
patience had been a cardinal virtue throughout, was angry 
and gesticulating freely. They were all at work on a black- 
bearded young gentleman, with a white cap and white duck 
suit, who had just come aboard. 
16 



242 WITH spi:ake;r cannon through the: tropics. 

''Do you mean to say that we've got to stay on this ship, 
out in this boihng hot sun, until to-morrow afternoon at 
four o'clock?" said the gentle McKinley. 

The young doctor, for he was one of the assistants of 
Dr. Gorgas, the "angel of Panama," who had caused the 
trouble, perspired a little, but answered that the quarantine 
was on, and because we had come from a Venezuelan port 
we must remain where we were until four o'clock on 
Monday afternoon. The exact limit was seven o'clock, but 
Dr. Gorgas had consented to reduce it to four. 

"You had better go back and tell Dr. Gorgas to attend 
to this business himself," said McKinley. "The arrange- 
ment was that five days were to elapse between Venezuela 
and Colon, and we have gone all the way to Jamaica to kill 
five days, and you are now making it six days. You are 
carrying your discretion a little too far." 

It is unnecessary to say how quickly the entire ship 
became involved in this discussion. Frenchmen, Germans, 
and several other nationalities joined the American tourists 
in a good, old-fashioned kick. Were they to be treated like 
cattle? Had they not bathed each morning? Was there 
any evidence of sickness on board? What insufferable 
nonsense it all was ! And this, too, in ''the land of the free 
and the home of the brave!" 

"Who was this Gorgas, anyway?" 

The indignation of the passengers, in keeping with the 
temperature, rose rapidly. At last, the celebrated Gorgas 
himself appeared. In hip boots and khaki uniform he pre- 
sented a fine figure, but he had come to fortify his assistant, 
not to be admired. The Captain, the Congressmen, every- 
body argued, explained, kicked. It was useless. 

Gorgas was IT. 

He could hold us until seven o'clock Mondav, but four 



COLON AND PANAMA. 243 

o'clock would be sufficient. He could do no more. He had 
been fooled by one tourist ship — he didn't propose to be 
fooled again. 

''This is a fine situation," broke in Busbey. '' We have 
been civilly treated everywhere until we come to you. You 
made the five days' limit, and we have observed it. You're 
at fault." 

"What have you to conceal?" said Mann, who could no 
longer keep out of the controversy. "Is the zone in such a 
condition that you can't permit us to look it over? Do you 
want time to clean up, so that the inspection may be 
perfect ?" 

Rut it made no difference. Casabianca stuck to "the 
burning deck," and the quarantine was on. 

When Gorgas and his assistant left the ship, we noticed 
others came and went. An agent of the Panama Hotel 
called upon McKinley, to arrange for dinners. The repre- 
sentative of the railroad came. Passengers who had 
boarded the Blucclicr at Kingston, but who had not accom- 
panied us to Venezuela, were permitted to land. There 
was a coming and going of small craft that seemed to 
interest the crowds that were enjoying themselves along the 
wharves of Colon. What if there should be infection on the 
shore? Might not these visiting launches bring disease? 
It was time for conjecture, and everybody engaged in it. 

Hours passed, but there we lay, within a stone's throw 
of the wharf. Finally, the heat drove Tawney to a point 
where "he demanded that a ship's crew take him ashore. 
PTe intended to ascertain whether Gorgas and the Captain 
thoroughly understood each other. In an hour he returned, 
with the report that there was ''no change in the situation." 
He had seen Stevens, the Chief Engineer, and Stevens had 
seen Gorgas, but the latter was still battling with Venezuelan 



244 WITH SPEAKER CANNON THROUGH THE: TROPICS. 

yellow fever. It was four o'clock to-morrow afternoon, 
and nothing less. Consequently, all negotiations with the 
quarantine officials were declared off. We resigned our- 
selves to the hot blasts that swept the ship's decks, for we 
were at anchor, and the heat was fierce. Now and then a 
whisper came from shore which indicated that the quarantine 
officials were thinking; but that was all. I found no fault 
with their firmness in the enforcement of regulations, but 
I did not like the exercise of discretion which changed the 
time from seven to four o'clock. If three hours, why not 
a whole day? The suggestions from shore were that an 
hour earlier than four was being considered — but as to this 
the Congressional party knew nothing. After the visit of 
Tawney it wisely kept aloof from the discussion. Dr. 
Tiffany stepped into the breach after lunch, and called us 
to divine service. As no one could get av/ay, everyone 
attended. The Doctor's brief discourse was soothing, and 
most of us forgot we were temporary prisoners. Then came 
the evening meal, and with it, to the surprise of everybody, 
the announcement by the Captain that the quarantine had 
been raised, and we would be permitted to land at seven 
o'clock in the morning. The information was gratifying, 
but it called forth no special acknowledgment to those who 
had twisted their own regulations so ungraciously. 

It is a pity this story should have to be told, for it would 
appear to prejudice the reall}^ good w^ork that was conceded 
by all, at the close of their inspection of the Panama Canal, 
to have been done by the quarantine officials. We had not 
been in Panama a quarter of an hour before we learned 
that the estimate placed upon Dr. Gorgas' services was 
exceptionally high. His success in sanitar)^ science was the 
marvel of the zone, and we cheerfully conceded if; but 
nevertheless, neither Dr. Gorgas nor the officials of the 



COLON AND PANAMA. 245 

sanitary force were particularly sought out for an inter- 
change of civilities during our stay on the Isthmus. 

And now for the canal ! 

Our Gridiron Club friend, Blythe, the day preceding our 
departure, had published, in the New York Sunday World, 
"The Panama Canal Primer," a clever satire upon "The 
Greatest Engineering Feat of the Age." Someone produced 
it the afternoon we were waiting in quarantine, and as it 
recalled in a humorous vein some of the salient features of 
American progress in the work, I found it mighty cheerful 
reading. 

''What is the Panama Canal?" it began. 

"A hole extending a short way across the Isthmus of 
Panama entirely filled with money." 

''Where did we get it?" 

"William Nelson Cromwell kindly persuaded the French 
Panama Company to sell it to us." 

"What did the French Panama Company get?" 

"Forty million dollars." 

"Was the company satisfied ?" 

"It was astonished." 

Then, in true primer style it queried and answered con- 
cerning the cuts and the dams ; and the Chagres River, "a 
depraved stream that goes on a toot every few weeks ;" 
recalled Senator Morgan and his Nicaraguan Canal scheme, 
and the efforts of Admiral John G. Walker in that direction ; 
the changes of administration from the earlier engineers, 
whose "resignations" were the subject of good-natured 
bantering; the administration of Judge Magoon as 
Governor; his resignation and the appointments and resig- 
nations in rapid succession of John Finley Wallace, Theo- 
dore P. Shonts, and John F. Stevens ; the two days' investi- 
gation by Po'Ultney Bigelow, and the three days' inspection 



246 WITH SPEAKER CANNON THROUGH THE TROPICS. 

by President Roosevelt, and then the recall of the contract 
award to William T. Oliver, and the President's appoint- 
ment of Army engineers to continue the work under depart- 
mental direction. 

In humorous vein Mr. Blythe ran along until he struck 
Secretary of War William H. Taft. 

''What did he discover there?" 

"He discovered that steam shovels make fine backgrounds 
for photographs, and told the President about it." 

"Is there nothing permanent about the canal?" 

"Yes." 

"What?" 

"The press agent." 

This was substantially the spirit of the canal skeptic. 
We had him on the ship. He had read Bigelow's articles ; 
he knew of the awful "graft" of the French regime; the 
whole region for more than four centuries had been given 
over to despoliation in one form or another. From the day 
Balboa first beheld the Pacific, and, because of the placidity 
of its surface, gave it its name, the region of the canal had 
been the haunt of adventurers and spoilsmen. The gold 
hunters had dragged their nuggets from Peru across the 
Isthmus ; they had fought down the Indians, only to be 
overcome themselves by expeditions possessing greater 
strength. The pioneers of those wild and trackless days 
had wonderful powers of endurance, to say nothing of their 
courage in pushing their exploits and their deviltry in such 
a country, with such a climate and such surroundings. 

We listened for a while to the Panama skeptic, and then 
to the historian. The latter told us of the landing of Ojeda, 
in 1499, and of the visit of Columbus, in 1502. The expedi- 
tions of Balboa, the gradual driving out of the Indians, and 
the earlier attempts to establish communication across the 



COLON AND PANAMA. 247 

Isthmus, were duly narrated. Of course, the story of "Old 
Panama" was revived, that story which embraced the 
sacking of the Spanish city by the celebrated British 
buccaneer, Sir Henry Morgan, whose exploits obtained for 
him the Governorship of Jamaica. 

The history of Panama appealed to me. It possessed all 
the elements of personal adventure, of commercial exploita- 
tion, and of governmental conquest. Comedy and tragedy, 
murder and pillage, courage and cowardice — all entered into 
the story. The Isthmus had been the goal of the gold 
hunter ; the resort of the shiftless ne'er-do-well of the 
Spanish nobility ; it had attracted the adventurous spirits of 
Spain, England and France, putting far into the shade the 
unhappy stories of early attempts at the settlement of the 
American colonies by the riffraff of Europe. 

We were informed, and believed, that our own representa- 
tives in the Canal Zone had thoroughly posted themselves 
upon the history of the efforts to colonize Panama, and had 
taken steps to avoid the failures of other nations. The first, 
and perhaps the greatest step was the cleaning up of the Zone 
so effectively that yellow fever had entirely disappeared. 
Not a contagion-breeding mosc[uito could be found. Mar- 
velous it was, but the avowals of those with whom we came 
in contact and our own observation confirmed the statement. 

How had all this work been accomplished? What was 
Dr. Gorgas' plan? First of all, the preservation of human 
life. This must necessarily be the first step to successful 
work upon the great project. It was on this step that 
France stumbled — a spell which spells two words, fumiga- 
tion and sanitation. 

The natives of Panama had been lazy and dirty. Con- 
tact with the dissolute characters from foreign countries 
had added to the work of demoralization. Work for a day, 



248 WITH SPEAKER CANNON THROUGH THE TROPICS. 

lay-off for a week or a month — :that was the rule. Since 
the cHmate supplied all the heat that was necessary, houses 
and fuel were not essential to human life. The good Lord 
provided the cocoanuts, the bananas, the bread-fruit, the 
yams, the oranges, and other luscious fruits and vegetables. 
Why work? Truly, the motto, "The Lord will provide," 
applied to the native. He needed scant clothing, and wore 
no more; his children wore less. Ambition did not appeal 
to him. If he acknowledged a wife and maintained a 
home, what more than a shack which he and she could 
build of native woods and leaves was required? And if 
society did not require it, why put on airs or sweep the 
cobwebs from the door? 

Yet there was some spirit in the native with whom the 
earlier canal builders had to deal; he loved to gamble. 
When he acquired a knowledge of the value of money, he 
would take a week off to play the game. It is said upon 
the Isthmus, and this without joking, that the French, in 
their efforts to keep the natives at work, were so perplexed 
at times that, knowing the gambling spirit of the people, 
they actually employed professional gamblers to visit the 
huts and settlements, engage the workmen in play, and win 
their money from them. This was one way of getting them 
back to work. 

In the discussion of the mosquito, we also learned of the 
troubles of the native. When the dangerous mosquito, the 
stegomyia, bit a native who had the fever, it carried the 
poison to the next person stung, and as the natives didn't 
use mosquito netting, the stegomyia had a splendid field of 
labor. The removal of the stegomyia, therefore, meant the 
suppression of the spread of fever. This was what Dr. 
Gorgas and his sanitary experts had undertaken to do, and 
had actually done. But scientific inquiry had gone a step 



COI.ON AND PANAMA. 249 

further. It had discovered a microbe, hitherto unseen, that 
burrowed into the bare feet of the natives, and carried with 
it into the blood the sperm of languor. But mosquito or 
microbe, the sanitary officers of the United States took no 
chances with lazy natives, black or white. They armed 
hundreds of men and women with brooms and buckets con- 
taining disinfectants, and sent them into the houses and 
shacks of Panama and Colon and throughout the entire ten- 
mile zone, with positive instructions to clean up the sur- 
roundings. The cities of Colon and Panama belonged to 
the Government of the Republic of Panama, but the agree- 
ment with the United States was on, and the authority of 
the sanitary experts extended over both places. Every 
house was visited, and the broom, the shovel, and even the 
torch, were applied with deadly vigor. Dirty and indifferent 
occupants were driven from their homes, if need be, and 
some places, regarded as a menace to health, were destroyed. 
The yellow flag, figuratively speaking, became the dreaded 
standard of the zone. For a time Gorgas was a czar who 
yielded to none and enforced his orders with a ruthless 
hand. He did not stop with the houses and shacks, but, in 
conjunction with the authorities of the United States, 
including Governor Magoon, the first provisional Governor 
of the zone, constructed sewers to carry away the stagnant 
pools ; caused the streets to be paved, and kept the vagabonds 
on the move. Moreover, on the entire strip along which 
paralleling the railroad from ocean to ocean, the Standard 
Oil has run its pipe line, thousands of barrels of California 
oil were spread over the swamps and breeding places of the 
dreaded stegomyia, effectively killing off the spawn. That 
such a thing could be achieved in such a climate, when the 
mosquito pest prevails along the entire Atlantic Coast, 
penetrating the summer settlem.ents of the millionaires, 



250 WITH SPE:aKE:r cannon THROUGH THE TROPICS. 

defying the health authorities of the various States, was a 
matter of amazement to us all, but we were told it was 
true — a statement which accounted for the great respect in 
which we found the Sanitary Department of the Isthmian 
Canal Commission to be held. 

To the effective work of cleaning up the Zone and 
driving away the mosquito must be added credit for the 
establishment of improved houses — improved in the matter 
of sanitation and cleanliness, in that in most of the govern- 
ment houses the shower bath has become a conspicuous 
feature of healthfulness and convenience. We were very 
much impressed throughout our journey across the Zone 
by the construction of the homes of the employees. Praise 
was given to the French for the design and finish of the 
houses used by them, hundreds of which were still standing 
and in use by the Americans. Most of these houses, de- 
cided improvements upon the shacks of the natives, were 
built in cottage style, on piers high enough above the ground 
to keep away all crawlitig pests and to prevent the accumu- 
latoin of filth. As a rule, they were built two stories high, 
with porches extending over the first and second stories, 
resembling very much, in all their airiness and coziness, the 
summer cottages of the wealthy people who sojourn along 
the rocky coast of New England. In these houses, some 
standing alone and some in settlements, separated into 
married and single groups, dwelt, rent free, officials, clerks 
and mechanics who had gone from the States, all of whom 
were fed at restaurants conducted by the Commission, at 
the rate of thirty cents per meal. 

Laborers, black and white, the ten-cents-an-hour and 
the twenty-cents-an-hour men, lived in quarters suitable and 
comfortable and with appropriate baths and conveniences. 
The houses were under careful sanitary inspection, and the 
men were fed at Government expense. 



COLON AND PANAMA. 253 

Another important work was the hospital service, which, 
at Ancon, McKinley and I inspected thoroughly. The 
French, who established the Ancon Hospital on the hills 
above the City of Panama, had found the undertaking 
extremely troublesome, but as we beheld it under the 
American system, it was certainly as well conducted aa any 
similar institution we had ever seen in the United States. 

So much, in a general way, for the first great work of the 
Americans on the Panama strip. They have made it pos- 
sible for men to live upon the zone. 

Speaker Cannon was particularly pleased with what he 
saw in this regard. 

"They have driven yellow fever from the Canal Zone," 
he said, "as they drove the ague from the West. Sanitation 
was the greatest problem we had to deal with on this 
Isthmus ; we seem to have solved it. The death rate, is no 
greater than in many parts of the United States, and the 
health conditions are certainly as good." 

I asked a young Philadelphian, whom I met at Colon, 
why greater progress had not been made upon the actual 
work of digging. This, I remembered, was the customary 
inquiry of the critical citizen of the States. The answer 
was quick and clear : 

"We have had to establish a working foundation. When 
we came a few years ago, the whole place was covered with 
underbrush. The machinery left by the French was dis- 
mantled and rusting, and much of it, as you will see along 
the line of the railroad, was tossed over into the ditches to be 
covered by earth, because that was the easiest way to dispose 
of it. The buildings they left that were serviceable to the 
Americans had to be restored and put in order. We had 
to get the men here ; there are upwards of thirty thousand 
now. They have been keel-hauled and dragged from all 



254 WITH spi:ake:r cannon through th^ tropics. 

countries. Some of them have given us more trouble than 
they were worth. We had to design, order, have made, and 
shipped new machinery, new cars, boats, and other equip- 
ment; great storehouses have had to be constructed, and 
then, we have been two thousand miles from, the base of 
supplies. It takes time to reach New York or Chicago or 
San Francisco, and for weeks we hear nothing of home. 
Meanwhile, the work has been going on. Upon the Isthmus 
we think we have done well." 

Assisted by Consul-General Shanklin, I carefully studied 




VILI^AGE OF GATUN, PANAMA. 



the plan of the canal as the train journeyed along from 
Colon to Panama. We stopped occasionally; at Gatun, for 
instance, where the great protecting locks on the Atlantic 
side are being reared; at Culebra, where the great cut is 
being made, and on the approach to Panama, where the 
locks are to protect shipping upon the Pacific side. I 
observed, on the way across, what every schoolboy should 
know — that we were following a southeasterly course from 
Colon to Panama, an odd condition due to the strange con- 
figuration of the neck of land now uniting the two Americas 



COLON AND PANAMA. 255 

and which we are soon to sever. Instead of running from 
east to west, Colon being almost northwest of Panama, the 
canal, beginning at Colon, will run in a southeasterly course 
from the Caribbean Sea, on the Atlantic, to the Pacific 
Ocean. Panama was the southernmost point touched by our 
party, being between eight and nine degrees above the 
Equator. 

We were completing our examination of the site for the 
locks at Gatun, where full explanations were given by the 
engineers, when Tawney, who had been following the 
Speaker closely, said : 

*'It was a hard fight and the question was debatable, but 
I am now more satisfied than ever I did right in voting for 
the lock system as against the sea-level canal." 

It had been explained to us that the French had striven 
for a sea-level canal, and that objection had been made in 
the ITnited States to the lock system, because of the terrors 
of the Chagres River and the danger of insecure founda- 
tions for the locks. It was after the Speaker and others 
had discussed the subject from one of the Gatun dam breasts 
that Tawney made his declaration. True, at first blush a 
sea-level canal would seem preferable to an artificial struc- 
ture that must be maintained at great expense, but there 
were serious questions to be met, that of the tide, for 
instance — at Colon, a sluggish tide in Limon Bay averaging 
one foot only, and across, at Panama, running up almost 
direct from the Pacific Ocean, a tide of eighteen or twenty 
feet. Nature had evidently reared Culebra to protect the 
Isthmus against these extraordinary tidal conditions. Then, 
the cost of excavation to cut the nine miles of Culebra down 
to sea-level, and then forty feet below, to say nothing of the 
additional forty feet of cut for the remaining length of the 
canal ! Such a task, in the number of men and years 



256 WITH SPE^AKI^R CANNON THROUGH THE^ TROPICS. 

required to complete it, would throw the work into another 
century. And then, the question of the troublesome Chagres, 
paralleling the proposed sea-level on the Colon side, and part 
of it to be utilized in the sea-level plan for canal purposes, 
what could be said of its conduct in the torrential period? 

Now that we stood upon the ground, it seemed that 
Tawney was right. I had not understood the lock system, 




HOUSES IN GATUN, PANAMA. 



but it began to clear up with the explanations of the engineers. 
I looked down upon the little town of Gatun, on the banks 
of the Chagres, and began to take courage as against that 
much-maligned stream, for the Chagres is not a mighty 
river — it is not even a respectable creek. The native ladies, 
barefoot, were washing their clothes on the rocks in the 
good old-fashioned way. Canoes of the natives, some of 



COLON AND PANAMA. 257 

them aboriginal dugouts, were resting lazily on the bank- 
approaching the little town, where the water seemed deeper 
and freer from obstruction than in other places. 

"I have read that the Chagres sometimes rises to such an 
enormous height that it would' imperil the canal," I said to 
one of the engineers. 

"It does rise in the rainy season," came the reply, "but 
we have no fear of its imperiling the canal.'' 

The central building of Gatun was an old church, about 
which some historical reference had been made. Pointing 
to it, r asked how old it was. 

"About a hundred years," said the engineer. 

"And it doesn't seem to have been flooded?" 

"No, but the whole town will be when we make the lake 
between the locks." 

As the topography of the country unfolded, I began to 
appreciate the canal plan. On the Colon side, eight miles 
from the mouth of the canal, which extends four miles 
across Limon Bay to deep water — the Gatun locks ; thence 
over an artificial lake rising to a height of eighty-five feet, 
and following the course of the buried Chagres — twenty- 
three miles to Obispo. This point is thirty-one miles from 
the mouth and marks the beginning of the canal through the 
Culebra cut. It extends eight miles through the mountains 
and comes out at Pedro Miguel River, near Paraiso, where 
the Pedro Miguel locks, rising to a height of eighty -five feet, 
will assist in forming another artificial lake, extending from 
this thirty-nine mile point to La Boca, six miles further on. 
At La Boca, forty -five miles from the Colon canal entrance 
and five miles from deep water in the Pacific, are being- 
constructed the great dams that are to hold in leash the 
waters of the lake and keep back the heavy tides of the 
Pacific. These locks at this place are to be known as the 



258 WITH SPKAKKR CANNON THROUGH THi: TROPICS. 

Sosa Locks. They will face the Bay of Panama, but in 
order to reach them vessels from the Pacific will pass 
through a protected waterway five miles long. 

All the country tributary to the twenty-three miles of lake 
on the Atlantic side of the mountains and the six miles on 
the Pacific side will be flooded to maintain the eighty-five- 
foot canal level within the locks. The depth of these great 
artificial lakes, of course, will not be uniform throughout 
their entire area, but the course for vessels, coming or 
going, will be clearly marked and the channel depth will be 
evenly maintained. All the underlying back country will be 
inundated and, commercially, the new lakes will be of great 
advantage, as they must be from a sanitary point of view, 
for they will cover all the lowlands, swamps and mephitic 
places, encourage small navigation and the incidental 
development of settlements, for the raising and shipment of 
bananas, oranges, cocoanuts, and other tropical fruits and 
vegetables. 

Through the Culebra cut from Obispo, eight miles to 
Paraiso, a vessel using the canal will pass from the lakes, 
through a gap in the mountains two hundred feet wide. 
Thence, on either side of the mountains, it will have virtually 
an open sail to the locks. 

The actual length of the canal, as planned by the Isthmian 
Canal Commission in its report to President Roosevelt, 
covers fifty miles. The distance from Colon to Panama 
on an irregular line, and not as the crow flies, is less than 
forty-five miles, and from bay to bay it is about forty-one 
miles, the additional nine miles of canal being accounted for 
by the four miles extension through Limon Bay to the sea 
on the Colon side, and the five miles extension through 
Panama Bay on the Pacific side. The present roadbed of 
the Panama Pailrnad will necessarilv be covered bv the 



COLON AND PANAMA. 259 

artificial lakes, and that road will be set back on high ground 
or reconstructed on trestles, as the engineers may determine. 

"Will the Chagres be sufficient to keep the lake supplied 
to a depth of eight-five feet?" I put this question to one of 
the engineers, and he promptly answered in the affirmative. 

"Will the Chagres become obstreperous in rainy weather, 
and with its great pressure break the dam at Gatun?" 

The engineer pointed to the dam, already under way, and 
smiled. 

"It will be sufficient," he said, "to withstand anv pressure 
the Chagres, even fortified by the lake, may bring. The 
overflow of the lake," he said, "would be taken care of bv 
'the s])illvvay,' which was to be constructed with the dam, 
so that beyond the dam on to the ocean the Chagres would 
simply follow its natural channel. 



CHAPTER X. 

TH^ PANAMA CANAI,. 

Working with an Eye to the States — Jamaica Negroes and Those 
from the South — A Chinese Tragedy at Matachin — From Pedro 
Miguel to "Pete Mike" — President Roosevelt's Message to Con- 
gress — Complaints of the Trouble-Breeders — Homes of the Con- 
tented and Industrious — An Echo of the Kingston Earthquake^ 
High Freight Rates and the Railroad — Government Praise for 
Stevens — The Latter's Story of the Toboggan — Canal to be Fin- 
ished by 1915 — Colonel Goethals and His Associates — American 
Hotel and Ancon Hospital — An Acquaintance on a Cot — The 
Improvement of Panama — ^Peculiar System of Taxation — The 
Speaker's Epigram — "Diggin' and Dammin' and Sticking to It — 
What Railroads Would Do— The Work Summed Up— Workers 
vs. Agitators. 

It was an interesting ride across the Isthmus — replete 
with traditions of the Spanish and the French. 

"Strange," said one of the American engineers, ''but we 
find the Spaniards the best laborers in the zone. We have 
some Italians, and there is no fault to be found with them, 
but the Spaniards seem to stick; they stand the climate and 
are able to do the work." 

I was watching a Jamaican drilling a hole for a charge of 
dynamite, when Shanklin came along. 

''Not working very fast," he said. 

"No," I replied, "I wouldn't give much for that fellow ; 
what does he get?" 

"Ten cents an hour, and I guess he wouldn't work if he 
didn't expect to get into the United States." 

"Many of them get over?" I asked. 

260 




CUIvEBRA CUT, PANAMA CANAIv. 



Ylli; I^ANAMA CANAt. 263 

''Not many; we're keeping our eye on that." 

McKinley found an Illinoisian in Maltby, a division super- 
intendent, whom he introduced to me. 

"Why don't you induce the Southern negroes to come 
down here?" I innocently suggested, "they would put ginger 
into these fellows." The answer was unexpected. 

"The Southern people wouldn't let them come. They 
don't let the negro mix, but they are not letting him go. I 
wish we could get the Southern negro, but you would have 
to face a shot-gun to get him." 

I asked if there were many Chinamen on the zone. 
Shanklin said there were many in Colon and Panama, and 
that they were good business men. We were passing 
Matachin, approaching Obispo and the Culebra cut, when 
I asked Shanklin the origin of the name. 

"Mata-kill," he said, "Chin-Chinaman, kill Chinaman." 

He then explained that about three thousand Chinamen 
were left at Matachin by the French when they ceased opera- 
tions. Tiring of their gardens and of their isolation, the 
poor fellows grew despondent, and, abandoning all hope of 
ever returning to their native country, one by one, com- 
mitted suicide. 

Since Shanklin spoke Spanish, I picked up from him a 
few interpretations of the names by which localities along 
the canal had come to be known. Obispo, for instance, 
which is to become a noted name in canal construction, 
stands for ''the bishop." Tas Cascades, a point of some 
interest in Culebra cut, "the cascades" ; Emperador, a point 
along the cut, "the emperor" ; Culebra, "snake" ; Paraiso, 
"paradise," and our old friend, Miraflores, "mayflowers" ; 
but Pedro Miguel, by which one of the great locks is to be 
known, had suffered somewhat by local corruption of the 
Spanish. "Peter Magill" was what some of the workmen 



264 WITH SPEAKER CANNON THROUGH THE TROPICS. 

respectfully termed it, but the irreverent had come to know 
it as 'Tete Mike" and used it, as for instance, "I was up 
to Tete Mike' to-day," or "I will meet you at 'Mike's lock.' " 

At the Culebra cut most of the important officials of the 
Commission, including Mr. Stevens and the new army 
engineers, boarded our train. Engineer Rippley, who had 
helped to construct the great locks at Sault Ste. Marie, and 
who has since left the service, was among these. Also 
Division Engineer O. W. Bolick, who had taken charge of 
the Culebra division. Bolick had been doing similar work 
in South America. He was a Pennsylvanian, hailing orig- 
inally from Mt. Carmel. 

When President Roosevelt visited the Isthmus, in Novem- 
ber, he encountered bad weather. It rained each one of the 
three days he was there. That, we were told, was the rainy 
season. In spite of all this, the President, in his special 
message to Congress, in December, 1906, gave us the most 
cheerful view of the work. 

"Unforeseen difficulties," he said, "will arise. From time 
to time seemingly well-settled plans will have to be changed. 
At present twenty-five thousand men are engaged on the 
task. After a while, the number will be doubled. In such a 
multitude, it is inevitable that there should be here and 
there a scoundrel. Very n]^ny of the poorer class of laborers 
lack the mental development to protect themselves against 
either the rascality of others or their own folly, and it is not 
possible for human wisdom to devise a plan by which they 
can invariably be protected. In a place which has been for 
ages a by-word for unhealthfulness, and, with so large a 
congregation of strangers suddenly put down and set to 
hard work, there will now and then be outbreaks of disease. 
There will now and then be shortcomings in administration ; 
there will be unlooked-for accidents to delav the excavation 



THE PANAMA CANAI^. 265 

of the cut or the building of the dams and locks. Each such 
incident will be entirely natural, and, even though serious, 
no one of them will mean more than a little extra delay or 
trouble. Yet each, when discovered by sensation-mongers 
and retailed to timid folk of little faith, will serve as an 
excuse for the belief that the whole work is being badly 
managed. Experiments will continually be tried in housing, 
in hygiene, in street-repairing, in dredging, and in digging 
earth and rock. Now and then an experiment will be a 
failure, and among those who hear of it, a certain proportion 
of doubting Thomases will at once believe that the whole 
work is a failure. Doubtless, here and there some minor 
rascality will be uncovered, but, as to this, I have to say 
that, after the most painstaking inquiry, I have been unable 
to find a single reputable person who had so much as heard 
of any serious accusations affecting the honesty of the Com- 
mission or of any responsible officer under it. I append a 
letter dealing with the most serious charge, that of the own- 
ership of lots in Colon ; the charge Avas not advanced by a 
reputable man, and is utterly baseless. It is not too much to 
say that the whole atmosphere of the Commission breathes 
honesty as it breathes efficiency and energy. Above all, the 
work has been kept absolutely clear of politics. I have never 
heard even a suggestion of spoils politics in connection 
with it." 

In view of our treatment at quarantine, there were some 
of us ready to listen to a few of ''the things we might hear," 
but our own inquiries bore out the President's conclusions. 
There were some things that might give rise to criticism, but 
they did not appear more serious than the small complaints 
that are met with everywhere. People are restless in hot 
weather. Our Arctic friend, Dr. Keely, also reminded us 
that people on shipboard sometimes gossiped because their 



266 WITH spKaki^r cannon Through tiIi: tropics. 

world was small and they couldn't get ont to tell it to any- 
body else. In Arctic explorations men learned to hate each 
other because of their very proximity. So, too, I remem- 
bered the remarks of a lieutenant on one of the ships we had 
visited. 

"We talk each other out. The stories grow old ; the songs 
and the old familiar voices become disagreeable." 

"Yes," a member of Congress observed, "a husband some- 
times goes to the club because his wife gets tired of seeing 
him round the house." 

Maybe this is the trouble on the Isthmus. I was stand- 
ing on Gatun Hill nearby a home for married couples. The 
breeze that sw^ept up the valley that is to be a lake was as 
cool and refreshing as any I had ever enjoyed on the board- 
walk at Atlantic City ; a young lady, who looked for all the 
world the tyi)ical summer-girl, came bounding forth ; behind 
her a fine-looking young man, an employee of the Commis- 
sion, carrying a suit-case as if for a long jaunt. 

"Married?" I inquired of one of the superintendents. 

''Yes, after a time the Commission allows them to bring 
their wives." 

"And how do the women like it?" 

"Most of them seem very well satisfied. They take an 
interest in the work and keep up the social end here quite 
acceptably. You know we have a University Club and col- 
lege fraternities here." 

It was pleasing to note this cheerful condition, because the 
locak newspapers, which are of the crudest type, had plenty 
to say of a pessimistic nature. 

''Why is the race question not solved on the Isthmus?" 
were the headlines in one of the sheets I had picked up. 

"Why should practical and experienced mechanics get but 
fifty cents an hour, and novices and apprentices sixty -five to 
seventy cents per hour?" was another. 



THi: PANAMA CANAI,. 267 

''Those oppressive sanitary orders," was the heading of 
another article, but the kind of work that seemed to be more 
hurtful than any other came from "A well-known corres- 
pondent," who' "received a letter from a friend, who is an 
engineer on the Panama Canal," in which the engineer said 
tO' the friend (the same being the unknown correspondent) 
that "the proposed change of contractors and the effect of 
politics at Washington have caused a downward tendency in 
prosperity and in the spending of money," and that "this 
generation will never see the canal finished." 

We could readily see that some people were restless, but 
many of those wnth whom we talked, were of the carping- 
order, who would be dissatisfied anywhere. They were the 
kind that during the Spanish-Anierican War wrote freely 
about their hardships to their Congressmen and their news- 
papers — the kind that go into any work for a "soft snap." 
and failing to find it, make others miserable by their griev- 
ances. It is probably unfortunate for the canal project that 
such people were ever induced to go to Panama, or that 
they were ever drawn there of their own volition, for, appar- 
ently, they are of the class that breed discord and generate 
the very stories which affect the people of the States. 

It was noteworthy, also, notwithstanding all that is said 
about liquor-selling on the Isthmus and about the unfavor- 
able conditions arising from the dissolutely-inclined element 
of the population, that attractive buildings were being erected 
under the auspices of the Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion for the entertainment of the self-respecting young men 
who were taking a pride in their work. 

I recall one of the stories which had found its way into 
the Panama papers during our trip. It intimated that the 
Isthmian Canal Commission, being nearer Kingston at the 
time of the earthquake than any one of the States, had 



268 WITH SPEAKER CANNON THROUGH THE TROPICS. 

offered to send tents and provisions to the sufferers, which 
were accepted, and that subsequently bills were forwarded 
to the Jamaican Government for the value of the tents and 
provisions. This story was so circumstantially stated in the 
newspapers which came to my notice, and gave the Depart- 
ment so harsh a dig, that I afterwards wrote to Secretary 
Taft, at Washington, to ascertain if such heartlessness had 
been enacted. The answer went fully into our eft'orts to 
help the Kingston sufferers and showed that, although the 
Jamaican Government had requested permission to pay for 
tents and other actual military stores that had been for- 
warded bv the Government of the United States, no l^ill had 
been sent. 

Whether the spirit of lethargy and restlessness, coupled 
with the spirit of deviltry that is bound to prevail where so 
many nationalities are mixed together, influenced the resig- 
nations of men like Wallace and Shouts. I do not know, but 
it happened at the time of our visit that Stevens, the 
engineer-in-chief, who had been held up to us all over the 
Isthmus as the mainstay of the engineering work, had, 
only a few weeks before our arrival and subsequent to the 
failure of the Government to let the work by contract, sent 
his resignation to the President. Naturally, we expected 
to see Stevens and have some talk with him. 

I had been chatting with IManager Bierd, of the Panama 
Railroad, about rates. He told me that if I wanted to ship 
a ton of merchandise from Xew York to the west coast of 
South America, via the Panama Railroad Steamship Line, 
now under the control of the Government, it would cost 
four dollars and fourteen cents to Panama, of which sum, 
by reason of its necessities, the Panama Railroad required 
sixty-two per cent. ; in other words, if our great Phila- 
delphia merchant, John Wanamaker, was drumming up 



the: PANAMA CANAL. 269 

trade in South America and desired to cross the Isthmus 
under the present system, he must count on spending sixty- 
two per cent, of the entire freight rate from New York to 
get his goods over the forty-six miles of road on the Isthmus. 
Mr. Bierd maintained that these charges were necessary, 
and, if they were not maintained, the railroad could not 
continue to do successful business. Senator Curtis, Chair- 
man Tawney, ard others, took the manager in hand, and, as 
we were sCpproaching Panama, I turned to a clever gentle- 
man, who seemed to have something to do with the work and 
who had pointed out to me in the harbor of Panama the 
masts of two Colombian vessels that were sunk by the 
Panamaneans during their revolution. This gentleman, 
who proved to be one of the newly-appointed army engi- 
neers, was sounding the praises of the chief engineer, Mr. 
Stevens, and regretting his departure. 

"We will miss him greatly," he said, ''for Mr. Stevens has 
made himself a power on the Isthmus, and the boys work 
harder when he is around because they like him. Whenever 
he appears, and he is on the go constantly, he inspires them 
and puts new life into the work." 

A rugged-looking man, who had the appearance of a 
prosperous railroad contractor, and whom I had not observed 
before, was attracted by the talk. He stepped over and 
broke into the conversation, because, apparently, he wanted 
to break it up. He changed the subject by calling attention 
to some French dredges that had been adapted to American 
use. I did not know at the time that the gentleman who was 
praising Mr. Stevens was Major Gaillard, one of the new 
Commissioners appointed by the President, and that he who 
had called attention to the dredges was Mr. Stevens himself. 
''This gentleman is very kind to refer to my work," said 
the chief engineer. 



270 WITH SPE:AKI:r cannon THROUGH THE^ TROPICS. 

With this, Lieutenant-Colonel Goethals, U. S. A., Major 
William L. Sibert and Mr. Harry Harwoocl Rousseau, the 
remaining members of the President's Commission, and all 
the corps of engineers, came forward. The}^ seemed to 
feel as Major Gaillard had expressed it. 

"These gentlemen will find the work in as good shape," 
said the retiring chief, "as they could expect it to be, and 
they will succeed as well, if not better, than we have done." 

Stevens then referred to the vast amount of dirt that had 
been taken out of the Culebra cut. The output had been 
increasing from 27,810 cubic yards per day, March ist, to 
32,967 cubic yards per day, March 23d, a total for the month, 
up to the 23d, of 615,600 cubic yards. He predicted that the 
new engineers would have the united support of the division 
superintendents and of the men to prosecute the work still 
further. 

I then asked Stevens why, after all he had done upon the 
Isthmus, with the certainty of having his name linked for 
all time with one of the greatest engineering feats of the 
centuries, he should want to quit. He smiled and told me a 
story about "a surgical case" that needed immediate treat- 
ment. I inquired as to his health, which seemed to be good, 
and suggested that the people would regret his departure. 

"Are you homesick?" I said. 

Stevens smiled. 

"Did you ever hear of the Chinaman who tried the tobog- 
gan ?" he asked. "Well, after the slide was constructed, his 
friends induced John to make the ride. John climbed to the 
top of the steps and mounted the chute. He came down with 
rapidity that made his head swim, but he landed safely, 
somewhat dazed. 

" 'Try it again,' said his friends. 

" 'Not by a d'lam sight!' said John." 



THE PANAMA CANAI,. 273 

And with this Stevens waved his hand significantly. 
When he finished his story, I asked the retiring chief if he 
had confidence in the work and beUeved it could be finished 
within a reasonable time. His answer was emphatic. He 
referred to the great progress the Americans had made ; to 
the establishment of a well-equipped working organization, 
and with the best good feeling toward those who were to 
take the work from his hands, said : 

"I make the prediction that the canal will be finished and 
that ships will be sailing through it by January ist, 191 5." 

In subsequent talks with Colonel Goethals, the incoming 
engineer-in-chief, and his associates, Gaillard, Rousseau and 
Sibert, I learned that the plans outlined by Stevens had been 
carefully gone over, and, in the main, would be followed. 

As we mingled with the officials we perceived some 
uneasiness amongst the superintendents and foremen as to 
the effect of the change upon their positions, but Colonel 
Goethals declared it to be the purpose of the new Board to 
maintain the organization very much as it had been found 
and to prosecute the work on the old lines. Being army 
officers, subject to orders from Washington, in a sense 
stricter than those pertaining to civilians of the Wallace- 
Shonts-Stevens-type, the Goethals Board had already made 
up its mind, whether it liked it or not, to remain at the post 
to which it had been assigned. Waiving for the moment 
discussion of the question whether the canal would be 
pushed more rapidly by contract, as some people think, than 
under the direction of the War Department, as it is now 
being done, we were inclined to believe that the new Board 
meant to do its full duty, and our talks with the members 
constituting it were of a decidedly encouraging character. 

At Panama, where, like Balboa, some of us obtained our 
first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean, Speaker Cannon and 
18 



274 WITH SPEAKER CANNON THROUGH THE TROPICS. 

Others of the Congressional party were driven to the Ameri- 
can Hotel. It was intended there should be some formalities, 
but the quarantine incident still rankled, and whatever had 
been on the carpet was abandoned. As a matter of fact, 
most of the Congressmen preferred to drift about as they 
saw fit, making such inquiries as pleased them best. We 
heard a great deal about the American Hotel and something 
of its dinner charges. Evidently, there had been some dis- 
cussion of the latter question, because the impression pre- 
vailed that, while employees of the Government were per- 
mitted to get their meals at the rate of seventy-five cents, 
the Bliiecher tourists were to be charged two dollars and 
fifty cents. I did not attempt to verify this statement, and 
mention it only as showing that some feeling prevailed upon 
the subject. Those wdio visited the hotel reported a number 
of Americans there, including our quondam friend, Williams 
C. Fox, late Director of the Bureau of American Republics, 
who had departed from our Five O'Clock Club-Gridiron 
Dinner, in Washington, for his new post as Minister to 
Ecuador. Panama is regarded by the Government as of 
sufficient importance to have an American IMinister, and we 
learned that he was in town, but did not call upon him. 

The beautiful hills above the City of Panama were dotted 
with the buildings of the celebrated Ancon Hospital, and 
McKinley and I, accompanied by Division Superintendent 
Maltby, urged our driver in this direction. The winding- 
road was firm and even ; we were told that the hospital 
occupied the site of a wornout volcano, and that it had been 
selected by the French because of its salubrity and fine out- 
look. Royal palms dotted the roadway and towered above 
the detached cottage-like structures. The latter were thor- 
oughly screened, porches being inclosed along with the doors 
and windows, and w^e were informed there had been no 



THE PANAMA CANAU 277 

mosquitoes in the vicinity since January. Major Phillips, 
the physician-in-charge, escorted us through the various 
huildings, informing us that he had at that time a total of 
420 patients. We visited the wards for the whites and for 
the blacks ; it would have puzzled a genealogist to trace the 
records of the patients, but their nativity, at least, was 
recorded, and it was as varied as the countries. There were 
no cases of contagious fever, so far as v/e were advised. 
The accident cases were numerous, and in the surgical ward 
we found some of the sufferers badly cut up ; they were 
workmen who had been injured along the line of the rail- 
road or in the work of excavation, and had been brought in 
])romptly under the Commission's system. I was following 
McKinley through one of the wards, attracted somewhat by 
the fair-haired nurse, who sat like a school-ma'am at a desk 
near the head of the room, wondering if she and her asso- 
ciates were the graduates of our American training schools ; 
when the flutter of a sheet drew my eye to a cot containing 
the body of an extremely pale patient. A thin hand had 
emerged from the cover and was moving in my direction. I 
observed I was being beckoned, and stepped toward the cot. 

"Where in the world did you come from?" gasped the 
suft'erer. 

Looking more closely, though his face had sunk per- 
ceptibly, I observed the son of an old Philadelphia family, 
a member of the city's leading clubs, and an all-round good 
fellow. 

"And what are you doing here, ?'' I replied, 

grasping his hand. 

"Thought it best to come away ; been here a year ; getting 
myself together, and will come out all right; saving money 
now." 

I asked him if he was working for the Commission, and 



278 WITH SPi:AKr:R CANNON THROUGH THi: TROPICS. 

learned that he had a responsible place, that he was well 
satisfied with it, and was being treated fairly. He had been 
postponing a snrgical operation for a long time, bnt had 
yielded a week ago, and was now convalescing. 

"This looks like a fine hospital," I said. 

"Couldn't be better !" he replied. 

"Do you intend to remain when you get out?" 

"Yes, I believe it will be better to have my name associated 
with this work than to hunt trouble at home.'' 

"You're two thousand miles away, old man ; can I do 
anything for you?" 

"Not a thing; but it does me good to see vou !" 

When we had gone from the hospital, the City of 
Panama attracted us, and as usual we found the souvenir 
seekers everywhere. The Chinese stores were especially 
inviting, and the Chinamen, most of whom spoke English, 
were doing a splendid business. We looked at the old 
cathedral, St. Dominies, which is roofless and bearing- 
trees out of its immense stone walls, and had pointed out 
the famous "flat arch," which attracts the curiosity of 
builders. On the inside of the old building there were 
camps of squatters, looking very much like gypsies, and a 
little more fierce. Panama is credited with a population of 
forty thousand. Its great sea wall, supported by formid- 
able rock foundations, looks to be, in some places, fifty 
feet high. Its policemen speak Spanish and, along the sea 
front, are found in little turret-like outlooks. American 
money is treated better in Panama than in the West Indies, 
for it is taken at par. In making purchases of any kind, 
however, the designation, gold and silver, is invariably 
specified ; that is to say, "it is fifty cents gold or one dollar 
silver" or "fifty cents American money, one dollar Panama 
silver." 



THE PANAMA CANAU 279 

The municipal affairs of Panama, like those of Colon, 
come under the direction of President Amador and the 
Provincial Governors. The Panama Railroad, to a large 
extent, controls the landed interests in both places, and the 
Isthmian Canal Commission directs the sanitary affairs. 
The advantage of putting sanitation under American direc- 
tion was manifest in Panama, where sewers had been laid 
and where some very attractive brick pavements were being- 
installed. All this work was being done at the expense 
of the L'nited States. The prevailing system of taxation 
was peculiar. In some of the islands of the West Indies 
we had observed that no taxes were paid where there was 
no occupancy — that is to say, if a building and grounds 
were vacated by an owner or tenant, no taxes were paid 
from that time until they were again occupied. This 
system, to some extent, prevailed in Panama, and we were 
handed memorials of residents complaining of the iron rule 
over buildings and grounds, both of the railroad company 
and the sanitary authorities. The complainants at Colon 
insisted that the railroad company controlled the ground 
upon which their buildings were and that should they make 
improvements the removal or destruction thereof would be 
without compensation. I found an odd case of this kind in 
Panama where a progressive Chinaman had maintained a 
store on a popular corner. He leased from the railroad 
company and had established a good-will that made his 
business extremely profitable. A fire destroyed the premises, 
and when the Chinaman sought a continuance of the lease 
he was met with the proposition that the railroad company 
would sell the leasehold to the highest bidder, putting the 
Chinaman and former occupant in exactly the same position 
that any newcomer would be. An effort was being made, 
as we left, to adjust this case by diplomacy. 



28o WITH spi:akk:r cannon through th^ tropics. 

"What do you think of the canal, Mr. Speaker?" I asked, 
on the return trip. Our notable traveler pulled the peak of 
his hat, struck a thoughtful attitude, and said : 

"My boy, it's a simple matter of diggin' and dammin'.'' 

"Diggin' and dammin' !" Volumes have been written on 
the canal without getting closer to the gist of it. "A simple 
matter of diggin' and dammin'." That was the way it 
struck the entire party. There were no insurmountable 
engineering obstacles. It was a question of digging and 
filling in, working and sticking to it, to-morrow and the 
next day — but sticking to it. Then, in the judgment of the 
Speaker and in our judgment, the canal problem would no 
longer be a problem. 

If the Pennsylvania Railroad undertook to dig, cut and 
fill in for a distance of fifty miles along the Allegheny 
Mountains, would anyone in Pennsylvania question its 
ability to do it? Or, if the long-contemplated canal across 
the State of New Jersey, connecting Philadelphia with the 
Atlantic seaboard, were to be undertaken by contractors, 
backed with sufficient capital, would anyone venture to 
doubt a successful outcome? In neither case, to be sure, 
would the climatic conditions of Panama be encountered, 
nor would the distressful labor conditions prevail, nor pos- 
sibly would there be a Culebra cut, nor the locks especially 
devised for the conditions prevailing on the Isthmus, but 
there would be problems — problems of foundations, of 
quicksands, of tunnels, of borings, of structural work, of 
durability, of strikes and other drawbacks, but the work 
would be done. Neither project would seem to be a greater 
physical undertaking than the Panama Canal. Why, then, 
with the zone in a sanitary condition, with an efficient 
organization, and with the financial and moral backing of 
the United States Government, should there be any doubt 



THE PANAMA CANAI,. 28 1 

about the Panama Canal? True, as President Roosevelt 
said, ''unforeseen difficulties will arise. From time to time 
seemingly well-settled plans will have to be changed," but, 
equally true is the characteristic comment of Mr. Cannon — 
the solution of the problem "is a simple matter of diggin' 
and dammin'." 

When the Speaker said ''diggin'," he had reference to 
the work for which thirty thousand men had been sent to 
the zone. The French had nineteen thousand. When he 
said "damminV' I suppose he had reference to the construc- 
tion of dams, an exceedingly imj^ortant factor of the opera- 
tion, for had he meant anything more expressive he would 
have been frank enough to say "cussin'." In his blunt, 
epigrammatic way, the Speaker struck the very marrow 
in the bone. For what purpose had we cleaned up the zone? 
For what was the Government spending its money? Why 
had thirty thousand men been sent to the zone, and why 
were as many more to go ? Were we preparing for failure — 
getting ready to lay down, as the French had done? Were 
we alarmed for fear the Japanese would destroy the locks 
and bottle up our Navy? Run along, little skeptic, we're 
"diggin' and dammin' !" That's what we're there for. 
We've started. The ''diggin' and dammin' " is under way ; 
it can't be done in a day, but it will be done. Don't have 
a fear ! 

"If I were Chief Engineer on the canal," said the Speaker, 
smilingly, "I'm afraid I should be tempted to follow the 
example of Dewey, and cut the cable." 

It was no reflection upon anyone in particular, but a 
gentle suggestion that competent and patriotic men in 
charge of a great National engineering project were no 
more likely to dishonor their own names than would be the 
commander of a great army upon the field of battle. It 



282 WITH spKakKr cannon through THK TROnCvS. 

was a delicate way of suggesting also that "too many cooks 
spoil the broth." The engineer in charge has unusual con- 
ditions confronting him. He is two thousand miles from 
home. The environment is favorable to all kinds of cliques 
and cabals. If every schemer and kicker can be heard at 
home and every bit of chicanery given the dignity of an 
investigation two thousand miles away, of course there will 
be delays and harassments. It is patent again, therefore, 
that the solution of the problem lies not in cliques and in 
factions that form and fatten in such an environment, but in 
"diggin' and dammin' " — in getting the work done. 

But, to return to the Speaker. He knew the canal story, 
and I found him willing to discuss it. 

"First of all," he said, "the agitation over the place where 
an American canal should cut the Isthmus was settled when 
Congress authorized the purchase of the Panama Canal, 
and Congress settled upon the type when it directed the 
President to construct a lock canal at the elevation of 
eighty-five feet above sea-level. The sanitarv condition of 
the Isthmus has been brought to such a condition that yellow 
fever has been driven out and the pesty mosquito is not to 
be seen. As a matter of fact, so far as outward appearances 
go, there is very little difference between the husky young- 
Americans who are working on the Isthmus and those who 
reside in my own State of Illinois. If you were to substitute 
apple and peach trees for oranges and bananas, you would 
scarcely know the dift'erence between Panama and the home 
country. We had the chills and fever out in Illinois before 
we cleaned up and drained the country. The lack of sanita- 
tion and drainage, no doubt, has been the reason for so 
much fever in Panama. What difference is there between 
a day spent in Panama in March and a July day at home? 
The sun is hot, but there is a cooling breeze from the ocean, 



T1JJ<; PANAMA CANAIv. 283 

and existence is certainly not unbearable. I believe the 
problem of sanitation, perhaps the greatest problem with 
which we had to deal on the Isthmus, has been solved, for 
the death rate here is no greater than it is in some parts 
of the United States. Conceded that the rainy season may 
be unpleasant and that sickness may then be more prevalent, 
we have yet the testimony of many young men who have 
been on the canal work for several years, who find no fault 
with the situation. 'Bogy,' I think, is the term one young- 
man used with reference to the stories published in the 
United States papers about the awful climate of Panama. 
People who go into a tropical country must expect heat 
and be prepared for it and live rationally under its dominion, 
as they would expect cold in Greenland or Alaska. If you 
were to transplant a native of MexicO' to the northern wilds 
of Canada without a change of garments, he would doubt- 
less complain of the rigor of the climate, but if he were 
intending to remain in the northern country, he would 
doubtless prepare to live according to the climatic conditions. 
So far as Panama is concerned, the United States Govern- 
ment has surely introduced civilized methods and provided 
liberally for their administration. The natives, themselves, 
have better health as a result of the sanitary methods of the 
United States." 

Urged to talk upon the mechanical features of the canal 
project, the Speaker, disclaiming knowledge of engineering 
technique, declared, as a result of his inquiries, that the 
so-called great engineering problems were not nearly so 
serious as he had been led to believe. Chief Engineer 
Stevens and his associates had responded to the Speaker's 
queries upon many disputed points, notably that of the lock 
system, as a result of which he expressed the opinion that 
there were ''no great new engineering problems in the 
work." 



284 WITH SPKAKI^R CANNON THROUGH THI) TROPICS. 

"I understand," he said, "there are dams of earth in the 
United States that Iiold back a greater body of water than 
tlie proposed Gatun dam is to hold back from that point to 
the Culebra cut. I am reminded that there is such a dam 
near San Francisco, where even the earthquake had no 
effect upon it. Of course, it will take time to build a dam 
a mile long, half a mile wide at the base, and nearly a 
hundred feet high, but such work has been done before, 
and effectively done. The locks, to raise the ships from 
the sea-level to the artificial lake behind the Gatun Dam, 
an elevation of eighty-five feet, must be larger and stronger 
than any we have in the United States. There will be three 
locks, each with a lift of twenty-eight and a half feet — 
higher and stronger than the locks of Sault Ste. Marie, but 
only three feet higher than locks that have been constructed 
in the Tennessee River, and which are in successful opera- 
tion. Colonel Goethals, the new Chief Engineer, con- 
structed the locks in the Tennessee River, and he ought to 
be able to superintend the work on the Panama Canal. We 
build larger and stronger locomotives and larger and 
stronger bridges every day and there is no reason 
why we should not build larger and stronger locks 
and dams. The job of cutting through Culebra is 
just such a one as might be expected of a Western 
railroad cutting through the Rocky Mountains. As the 
retiring engineer, Mr. Stevens, under whose direction the 
organization of the work upon the cut was effected, was 
an experienced railroad constructor, it would seem that this 
work is proceeding upon right lines. Mr. Stevens told me 
he had at work 53 steam shovels, 121 locomotives, and 
about 2,000 flat cars, and that the roadbed for the railroad 
was being removed to lower levels to keep up with the 
progress of the work. I am informed that the French 



THE PANAMA CANAL. 285 

companies took out, altogether, about 17,000,000 cubic yards 
of earth, and that, as against this, the Stevens organization 
took out 7,000,000 cubic yards last year alone. The engi- 
neers claim that they can take out 1,500,000 yards a month 
when they secure and put to work all the steam shovels, all 
the locomotives and all the cars that have been ordered. If 
they don't do quite so well, it is reasonable to expect that 
the 51,000,000 cubic yards remaining to be taken out will 
be removed in less than five years."* 

The Speaker said that he had gone over the ground, had 
witnessed the organization in force, and could see nothing 
improbable in the estimates of the engineers. As to the 
question of letting out the work by contract to hasten its 
completion, the Speaker said he was not so sure that this 
would be the wisest method, in view of all he had seen. 

"Speaking generally," he said, "I beHeve it might be 
more economical for a contractor, free from the red-tape of 
Government control, to undertake the work. Before going 
to Panama, I would have unhesitatingly endorsed the 
proposition of letting the work by contract, but now, after 
observing the efficiency of the work of the Stevens organi- 

-'' A dispatch from Colon, September 4, 1907, five months after the 
Speaker's visit, announced a new high record for digging. It said : 

"The August excavation from the canal prism by steam shovels 
and dredges was 1,274,404 cubic yards. That by steam shovels was 
916,950 cubic yards, as follows : Culebra, 786,866 cubic yards, Gatun, 
105,223 cubic yards; Mindi Chagris, I^a Boca, aggregate, 24,861 
cubic yards. That by dredging was 357454 cubic yards, as follows : 
Colon division, 189,170 cubic yards; La Boca division, 168,284 
cubic yards. This exceeds all previous United States records, the 
highest preceding total for the canal prism being 1,058,776 cubic 
yards in July." On the strength of this report, President Roosevelt 
wrote a highly-commendatory letter to Colonel Goethals, the 
Engineer-in-Chief. 



286 \\ITH SPEAKKR CANNON THROUGH THE) TROPICS. 

zatioii, the assignment of engineers, chiefs of departments 
and bnreans to allotted tasks, now apparently nnder safe 
and intelligent control, I am not ready to say we should 
change the system, and turn all the advantage of Govern- 
mental organization over to a contractor. If, for instance, 
the work on the Culebra cut should now be let by contract, 
the contractor to receive a percentage for his work, the 
Government would simply hand over to him a profit to be 
obtained from the operation under the present organization. 
This, as conditions now prevail, would appear to be giving 
away needlessly the advantages the Government has achieved. 
If the present organization is maintained and the Govern- 
ment engineers continue the work about as it has been laid 
out, keeping everlastingly at it, the best results will doubtless 
be forthcoming. As Abraham Lincoln would say, it is not 
good policy to 'swap horses when crossing a stream.' " 

Througout his whole chat upon the canal, Speaker Cannon 
maintained a confident tone. Like the other members of 
the party, he felt there should be a wise and careful scrutiny 
of accounts and methods, but he was inclined to believe in 
the earnestness and sincerity of those who had charge of 
the work. He gave no credence to the suggestion that the 
white man could not safely visit Panama or that he could 
not accomplish a great work there. 

'■'Colonel Goethals," he added, "tells me that he and the 
majority of the Canal Commission intend ta make their 
headquarters on the Zone, instead of in Washington. That 
appears to be the wise thing to do. If they and the engineers 
in charge and upon the ground are not competent to do 
the work, who in Washington, New York, IMiiladelpliia or 
Chicago can better direct them? We must get away from 
the demagogue and the mischief maker, and encourage those 
who are upon the ground, doing the best thev can. We 



the: PANAMA CANAL. 287 

ap]jro])riate $ioo,ooo,oco a year for the Navy, without any 
unusual agitation, and anywhere from $25,000,000 to $75,- 
000,000 a year for river and harbor work, and nobody gets 
excited about it. The last Congress appropriated $26,000,000 
for work on the Panama Canal next year. For one, I am 
willing to continue this appropriation for a reasonable time 
from }ear to }ear, and await results. I would be willing 
to cease agitation and allow the Commission and the 
engineers to work, confident that some day the world will 
be awakened with the official announcement that the canal 
is finished. It would be a new sensation, like the announce- 
ment that the last spike in tlie Union Pacific Railroad was 
to Ijc driven, an announcement that came after the country 
had ceased to think about that great undertaking and the 
thousands of men who were patiently working year after 
}ear, cutting the grades, building the bridges, stretching 
the steel rails across the continent, to bind the Atlantic and 
the Pacific oceans into a commercial highway." 

"It would be a good thing," said the Speaker, dravving 
his interesting talk to a close, "if we should give the agi- 
tators a rest and the workers a chance." 

As Mr. Cannon concluded, he took the arni of McKinley 
for a two-mile trot along the deck promenade. He had 
])assed out of view when an observant young passenger, 
who had been reading a New York periodical, pointed to a 
cartoon of the Speaker, under which a bit of satirical verse 
denominated him a czar. The burden of the song was the 
alleged autocracy of the Speaker of the House in permitting 
to be called up certain kinds of legislation and in refusing 
to recognize members who vociferously endeavored to catch 
his eye. Being a new member of the House, my experience 
in the direction indicated had been limited, but as I had 
heard here and there a complaint that the Speaker would 



288 WITH SPEAKER CANNON THROUGH THE TROPICS. 

not always permit bills to be called, I took Colonel Busbey 
aside and put to him bluntly the question : 

"Why does the Speaker give recognition to some and 
refuse it to others?'' The answer was direct: 

"The Speaker is a member of the House, having the same 
right to object that every other member enjoys. If every 
l:)ill and every scheme were to be brought up for debate, 
Congress would be in session continually. As the Speaker 
of the House, in declining to permit bills to be called, or, as 
you say, in not giving recognition to members to call bills, 
he is simply exercising his right to object, just as you or 
any other member upon the floor would have the right to 
do, and in doing so he is saving the time of the House and 
of the country.'' 




CABANA AND THE; MORRO, HAVANA. 



19 



CHAPTER XL 

CUBA. 

A Showery Departure — Views from South America — Put-in at 
Santiago — Opportunity Creates Heroes — Scene in Havana 
Harbor— The Wreck of the Maine— A ReHc That Should be 
Removed — The Omnipresent Flag of Cuba — Secretary Taft's 
Proclamation— Tremendous Cost of the Cuban War — "National 
Altruism" Sublime — Cuba's Great Debt to the United States — 
The Expensiveness of Intervention — Troops and Ships Required — 
The Foundling Fattens — Who Drove Out the Spaniards? — Queer 
Evidences of Gratitude — A Problem, Says the Speaker — Talk of 
Annexation — How the Native Votes. 

"Take we down, down, down ; where the cocoanut grows, grows, 

grows ; 
Where the earthquake shakes and the hurricane blows, blows, 

blows, 
O, show me the men who don't wear any hose. 
And women who dress up with rings in their nose — 
Where babies go out in their little brown clothes, 
Down where the cocoanut grows." 

Our departure from Colon had been hurried. The tour of 
inspection had filled us with dust and a sudden shower at 
the close had soaked it in. Then the streets leading to the 
wharf filled up with a motley group of people. In the 
crowd were a number of familiar faces, including appointees 
who had been accredited to some of the Congressmen in the 
party, and who were anxious to meet their old friends. 
One of the happiest of these was a Philadelphian, in whom I 
had taken an interest. His foot had been hit by a falling 
beam, causing him weeks of inconvenience and pain. I 

291 



292 WITH SPEAKER CANNON THROUGH THE; TROPICS. 

took his messages and learned also that he had some "kicks," 
but these were due more to the conditions of employment 
than to the compensation or to the climate. McKinley found, 
among friends at the wharf, a couple of prominent residents 
of his home district, who had come over from New Orleans 
on a tug and were to make the return trip on the big ship. 
They were invited to join our party, and, having fresh news 
from the States, were welcome companions. Miss Keating, 
who was left at Kingston, had arrived by transport to Colon 
and was taken on board ; a young Philadelphian, resident of 
Germantown, who had employment with the Isthmian Canal 
Commission, took passage; and Consul-General Shanklin, 
who had stood by until the "last whistle blew," turned over 
to us, in the person of Richard M. Bartleman, an American 
Consul-General-at-large, who had just partially completed 
a tour of South America as an inspector of consulates for 
the State Department at Washington. Bartleman was an 
observing fellow, full of wonderment that we were so in- 
different to the development of South American trade and 
hopeful that improved commercial relations would speedily 
be established. He had been appointed originally from Boston, 
had been in the West Indies, and was for a time at Caracas, 
where he was Secretary of Legation. As he spoke Spanish 
fluently, he had been transferred to Malaga and then to 
Seville, where he married a Spanish lady, from whom and 
his children he had been taken because of his special equip- 
ment for the tour of South America. We had seen enough 
in our own wanderings to believe in the wisdom of an over- 
sight of the consular offices of the United States in foreign 
countries, and it was not disappointing to learn that the Gov- 
ernment was exercising a supervision that would tend to 
bring them to a higher standard of efficiency. Bartlemen em- 
phasized the importance of having consuls with knowledge 



THE ISIvAND 01^ CUBA. 293 

of the Spanish language. The English, the Germans and 
the French, who do business in South America, he said, were 
aHve to this need and were getting the trade because they 
won the confidence of the people. 

"We should study the Spanish language and customs," he 
said, "and we should have a fast mail. It has taken me 
forty days to come up the west coast of South America from 
Valparaiso to Panama, making the necessary stops." 

Our stories of Saint Pierre and Kingston led Bartleman to 
describe the earthquake at Valparaiso, Chile, August i6, 
1906. "This earthquake," he said, "lasted about five min- 
utes, killing 2,000 people and toppling over buildings and 
monuments. The people believed the last day had come, but 
many began to loot, and for this offense 500 were shot. As 
a warning to thieves one German officer alone directed the 
shooting of 150 men." 

I asked, "Why a German officer?" The Inspector-General 
replied that Chili had been taking lessons in military affairs 
from German officers and was putting her navy under British 
disciplinarians. He added that Chili was one of the most 
progressive nations, and was generally regarded as the 
Yankee of South America, but with a very close attachment 
for Germany and England. The Japanese were doing busi- 
ness with Chili, we also learned from Bartleman, and during 
his visit were employing, for commercial purposes, two con- 
verted Russian cruisers, taken as prizes in the recent war. 

A series of entertainments followed our departure from 
the Isthmus, for barring a stop at Santiago, we were to have 
several days on the water, riding round to Havana. Mann 
thought it would be a good idea to have the ladies take part, 
and finally induced Mrs. Stone, of Michigan, to make an 
address. Perhaps no effort of the committee was more suc- 
cessful than this. Mr. Sherman, who had been reading his 



294 WITH spe:ake:r cannon through the: tropics. 

colleague's (Alexander's) "Political History of New York," 
was induced to reappear for a short talk, and Senator Curtis, 
in a speech brimming over with good humor, told of the 
Taft party's tour of the Philippine Islands. The danger- 
ously descriptive new chorus with which this chapter opens, 
sung to the air of "Down Where the Wurzburger Flows," 
was also introduced, much to the delight of the passengers. 

We took the long way round to Havana, arriving there on 
the morning of March 29 — Good Friday. We had run the 
nose of the ship into Santiago harbor, on the south side of 
the island, but darkness was fast approaching and the red 
tape of the port threatened to hold us over night, so the 
Captain backed her out, very much to the disappointment of 
at least one passenger. General Patterson, of Albany, who 
had been wounded at San Juan and wanted to locate the spot 
where the Spaniards did it. The exploit of Hobson and the 
crew of the Merrimac in attempting to bottle up the harbor 
was elucidated by the knowing ones. The harbor was cer- 
tainly narrow enough to be "bottled up ;" looking in from the 
sea there appeared to be no entrance at all, but the forbidding 
old Morro clearly marked the place. We looked in vain for 
remaining evidences of Cervera's broken fleet. All traces 
of the ships had disappeared. 

I pondered over the marine battle-ground of Santiago, for, 
in collaboration with the esteemed James Rankin Young, of 
Washington newspaper fame, I had helped enlighten the 
public at the close of the war upon this thrilling subject. 
Admiral Sampson had since gone to his grave and Admiral 
Schley, whose name had been linked with Sampson's in 
controversy over the honors of the day, was still alive. 
Hobson, who, notwithstanding his critics, performed the 
most conspicuous act of personal bravery during the war, 
was now in Congress. Who of these men had figured in 



the: ISI.AND OF CUBA. 



295 



the world's history before Santiago ? It was the opportunity 
of Santiago which brought them fame — the same opportu- 
nity which is the one essential to the advancement of hun- 
dreds, aye thousands, to the post of honor in American 
esteem. Manila was the opportunity that flashed the un- 
known "Dewey" in golden letters across the pages of history ; 
it was the opportunity lost in Porto Rico that removed 
Aibonita from the heroic rank of San Juan Hill. Given the 




MORRO CASTIvE;, HAVANA. 



opportunity, there is nothing to stay the possibilities of 
American achievement. 

Our first sight of Havana reminded me much of San Juan, 
Porto Rico. Like San Juan, the Cuban capital combined 
Castillian grandeur and picturesqueness with an air of 
modern enterprise. The substantial buildings were low and 
white, and the red tile roofs were prominent, but there was a 
yellowish haze in the atmosphere and along the skyline there 
was smoke from busy factories. 

The far-famed harbor of Havana was slow in unfolding 



296 WITH SPEAKE:r cannon THROUGH THK TROPICS. 

itself to our view. It was not more than 400 yards wide at 
the entrance, and, until we had rounded the point where 
Morro Castle stands, we could scarcely see it. Once round, 
we found ourselves in the midst of busy shipping scenes. 
Small craft of all kinds, including "bum boats" with hooped 
awning covers, resembling Conestoga wagons afloat, were on 
the move. Large steamers loaded with coal and merchandise 
were up stream and several war vessels were at anchor. It 
was a thrifty harbor, but a dirty one. The tidal conditions 
are not favorable to sanitation, and where the sewage comes 
in it usually remains. Around the vessels, too, the kitchen 
offal had an unpleasant habit of staying 'Svhere put." It 
was explained that the harbor had no rear outlet and that 
much of the fever formerly prevailing in Havana originated 
from the stagnant and putrefying debris of the harbor. 
Under the walls of Cabana, the fortress along the Morro, 
we picked our way for probably a mile, coming to a full stop 
close by the still exposed and ever-memorable wreck of the 
Maine. Here it was that fate decreed the end of Spain's 
dominion in the West Indies and the Philippines. In vain 
did Sigsbee send his calming message to the States. The 
sinking of his ship had been ''the straw that broke the camel's 
back." It roused the people to such a pitch of indignation 
that President McKinley's regretful but emphatic message 
to Congress was sent none too soon. Congress was ready 
to back the war, and in a few brief months Cuba, so long 
the sport of Spain's despotic rule, was free. To Speaker 
Cannon, who moved the appropriation; to Tawney, Sher- 
man and Mann, who had voted ''aye," a flood of recollec- 
tions came trooping along with the first view of the rusty 
and battered bits of steel that still concealed the actual cause 
of the epoch-making disaster. The "blowing up of the 
Maine'' had involved two nations in a costlv warfare ; it had 




WRECK OF THE MAINE, HAVANA. 



the: island 01^ CUBA. 299 

changed the geography of the world and added "Colonial 
Possessions" to the United States ; it had liberated peoples 
whose existence had been slavery — but there the old hulk 
remained, dismantled and forbidding, a menace to naviga- 
tion and refused a decent burial. 

''Why don't they blow it up?" was the general comment 
on the ship. 

''They don't want to," said the whispering critic. "It 
might be shown that a Spanish mine was not the cause." 

"Rot!' said the naval sharp. "If they blow it up they 
will hide the secret forever." 

"Gentlemen," said the cool observer, "it is purely a ques- 
tion of cash. The cost of removal would be so great that 
nobody wants the job. We can all agree, however, that it is 
disgraceful to permit the Maine to remain as she is." 

The historic relic did present a melancholy appearance. 
One would fain look upon it without conjecture as to the 
bones of the brave jackies still pinned beneath its massive 
framework. For the credit of the nation, I, too, wished it 
had not been permitted to remain so long, for in addition 
to being a menace to shipping, it is now only a gruesome 
curiosity. 

A short distance from the wreck the American cruiser 
Columbia lay peaceably at anchor. Near by was the Italian 
cruiser Piera Mosca (firefly), which had been making 
friendly visits to American ports, and further off the Ger- 
man gunboat Panther. The flags of the warships were 
at half-mast, the significance of which I could not under- 
stand, until later it was ascertained from the officers of the 
Columbia that they were paying a compliment to the Italians, 
who lower their flag to half-mast on Good Fridays. Such, 
then, was the spirit prevailing between nations in Havana 
harbor where nine years before the Maine, on a friendly 



300 WITH spi:ake:r cannon through the tropics. 

visitation, had gone down through treachery. And in this 
harbor, too, where had proudly floated the flag of Spain 
over parapet and turret, we now beheld the tri-colored 
emblem of Cuba with its single star, proclaiming "Cuba 
libre." 

Flags of Cuba ! Yes, they were everywhere. We had 
seen them floating proudly over the Morro at Santiago ; they 
had greeted us along the northern coast, and then at Havana 
from fortifications and public buildings they had burst upon 
us in greater profusion than the ethics of patriotism would 
seem to require. There was no mistaking the position of 
the Cuban flag. It was afloat, and anomalous, though it 
appeared, it was afloat by the courtesy, and under the pro- 
tection of the United States. No foreign power held the 
Cuban people in subjection, nor threatened their flag. No 
Spain had come thundering against the walls of Cabana. 
The United States had simply stepped in to perform a ser- 
vice remarkable in international comity, because Cuba had 
failed to govern herself. 

Cuba was given her liberty through the intervention of 
the United States, and with our help, raised her own flag as 
a Republic, May 20, 1902. For four years she endeavored 
to keep the ship of State above the waves, but the contentious 
patriots overwhelmed her, and on September 29, 1906, the 
United States resumed provisional control of the island. 
On that day throughout Cuba was published the proclama- 
tion of the American Secretary of War. It read : 

"To the People of Cuba: 

"The failure of Congress to act on the irrevocable resig- 
nation of the President of the Republic of Cuba, or to elect 
a successor, leaves this country without a government at a 
time when great disorder prevails, and requires that, pur- 



THEJ ISIvAND O^ CUBA. 3OI 

suant to a request of President Palma, the necessary steps be 
taken in the name and by the authority of the President of 
the United States to restore order, protect Hfe and property 
in the Island of Cuba and islands and keys adjacent thereto, 
and for this purpose to establish therein a provisional gov- 
ernment. 

*'The provisional government hereby established by direc- 
tion and in the name of the President of the United States 
will be maintained only long enough to restore order and 
peace and public confidence and then to hold such elections 
as may be necessary to determine those persons upon whom 
the permanent government of the Republic should be de- 
volved. 

''In so far as is consistent with the nature of a provisional 
government established under authority of the United States, 
this will be a Cuban government conforming, as far as may 
be, to the constitution of Cuba. The Cuban flag will be 
hoisted as usual over the government buildings of the island. 
All the executive departments and the provincial and munici- 
pal governments, including that of the City of Havana, will 
continue to be administered as under the Cuban Republic. 
The courts will continue to administer justice, and all laws 
not in their nature inapplicable by reason of the temporary 
and emergent character of the Government will be in force. 

"President Roosevelt has been most anxious to bring about 
peace under the constitutional government of Cuba, and has 
made every endeavor to avoid the present step. Longer 
delay, however, would be dangerous. 

"In view of the resignation of the Cabinet, until further 
notice the heads of all departments of the Central Govern- 
ment will report to me for instructions, including Major- 
General Alejandro Rodriguez, in command of the Rural 
Guard and other Government forces, and General Carlos 
Rolofif, Treasurer of Cuba. 



302 WITH SP^AKI:r cannon through rut TROPICS. 

"Until further notice, the Civil Governors and Alcaldes 
will also report to me for instructions. 

''I ask all citizens and residents of Cuba to assist in the 
work of restoring order, tranquility and public confidence. 

"Havana, September 29, 1906. 

"Wm. H. TaFT, 
"Secretary of War of 
"The United States, 
"Provisional Governor of Cuba. 
"Official : 

"F. R. McCoy, 
"Capt. 3rd Cav., 
"Aide." 

The provisional government proclaimed by Mr. Taft was 
still on. We were, therefore, about to land in a country 
which floated a foreign flag, but whose every governmental 
function was exercised under the influence of our own be- 
loved Stars and Stripes. And there certainly was a reason 
for the Stars and Stripes to be represented, even though the 
Cuban flag was so conspicuously in evidence, for about the 
time of our visit the same Secretary Taft, who had issued 
the proclamation previously quoted, at the War Department 
in Washington, was preparing some statistics, the signifi- 
cance of which from a humanitarian standpoint alone is 
probably unprecedented. 

"We expended in the Cuban War upwards of $300,000,- 
000," said the Secretary, "and we never have invited from 
Cuba the return of a single cent. We offered up in deaths 
and wounds and disease in that war the lives of 148 officers 
and over 4,100 enlisted men. We paid $20,000,000 to Spain 
under the Treaty of Peace. The exact consideration of this 
sum it may be difficult to state, but the result of the payment 



the: isIvAnd o^ CUBA. 303 

was the treaty, and by that treaty was secured a cession of 
Cuba and Porto Rico and the Phihppines, freed from the 
debts which Spain had incurred in their maintenance. It 
is not too much to say, however, that by this payment the 
United States freed the islands from a heavy burden of 
debt which, under ordinary conditions of a transfer, might 
have fohowed them under American sovereignty." 

The Secretary told of the wretched condition in which the 
people of Cuba, particularly the refugees and reconcentrados, 
found themselves and their families at the close of the war. 
Our army had distributed 5,493,000 rations to the suffering 
at a cost of $1,500,000, and we had paid every Cuban soldier 
who had been serving his own country without pay $75, 
upon the deposit of his arms, a total out of the Treasury of 
the United States for this purpose alone of $2,550,000. We 
had taken up the subject of sanitation and had thoroughly 
cleaned the island, making it, instead of a depository of filth 
and disease, a healthful and fertile country; we had opened 
up the public schools, and whereas, under Spanish rule, 
36,306 pupils was the limit cared for, the enrollment under 
the American system had increased to upwards of 200,000. 

"The prisons," said the Secretary, ''the squalor and misery 
of which it is hard to exaggerate, were thoroughly cleansed 
and put upon the basis of modern requirements." 

The restoration of industry had been necessarily slow, 
but President Roosevelt had pleaded for a reduction of the 
duty on Cuban tobacco and sugar, and the Congress of the 
United States had finally yielded, so that to-day Cuba is 
doing a magnificent export trade, far exceeding anything in 
her history. 

''But," the Secretary added, "the actual loss in revenue to 
the United States from the reduction of tariff rates by the 
treaty is certainly not less than $10,000,000 a year." 



304 WITH SP^AKE:r cannon THROUGH THE; TROPICS. 

Why had it been necessary, after all this had been done 
for Cuba, an island of 44,000 square miles, with a population 
of 1,600,000, or little more than that of the single city of 
Philadelphia, for the United States to again step in and 
establish a vexatious and expensive provisional government, 
or protectorate ? Again let us quote the Secretary of War : 

"The Republic had not comphed with its constitution in 
several important respects ; it had not made provision for 
an independent judiciary; it had not provided autonomy in 
its municipalities, and it had not provided an election law 
which would secure, as required by the constitution, minority 
representation." 

And what was to be expected as a result of an intervention 
which at the time of our visit had cost the United States 
$4,000,000 and was likely to cost at least $2,500,000 annually 
thereafter? Let Mr. Taft again elucidate: 

''A commission under the provisional government is now 
drafting an election law, including a law for an electoral 
census; a law making the judiciary independent; a civil 
service law and a law establishing autonomy in municipali- 
ties. It is to be hoped that within seven months we may take 
an electoral census ; then hold a municipal election, and six 
months thereafter a national election; and then, after a 
further interval of four months turn over the government to 
the persons properly elected." 

And for all this self-sacrifice and expenditure, how is the 
United States to be reimbursed ? The Secretary continues : 

"The President is given authority to receive from the 
Cuban Treasury such sums as the condition of that Treasury 
may permit, to reimburse the United States for the expense 
of intervention, but is is quite unlikely that, in the various 
calls that there are upon the Cuban Treasury for works of 
improvement and for the bettering of the government, any 



the; isIvAnd of cuba. 305 

large part of these funds thus expended will be reimbursed 
to the United States." 

We had found the baby on our door-step and the spirit of 
fatherhood required that we should put it asleep o'nights 
and provide for its maintenance. We were doing some- 
thing for the baby, but its appetite was enormous and its 
disposition to cry at unseemly hours was characteristic. 
Indeed, the baby seemed to be getting the best of the bargain 
all the way through, for it was still doing business for itself 
under the protection of its new-found parent. Witness the 
figures : In 1895, the last year of Spanish occupation, the 
exports of Cuba into the United States were only $52,000- 
000; they increased under the American occupation until in 
1906 they approximated $i30,ooo<,ooo, and upon this in- 
creased business of the "foundling" the "parent" was losing 
$10,000,000 per annum in tariff revenues. 

But regarding Cuba as a troublesome child which wanted 
us to feed it and yet let it have its own way, for whose pres- 
ervation and maintenance we had spent so much in treasure 
and in blood, what were we doing now that the protectorate 
was on, because the "foundling" had fallen out with itself? 
First of all, a Provisional Governor had been appointed with 
all the retinue and expense attaching to such an important 
position. Under his direction we had sent to Cuba at the 
period of our visit (March 30, 1907) 6,392 United States 
troops, soldiers taken from our own army for the mere pur- 
pose of making our "foundling" be good to itself. Of the 
6,392 troops, 5,401 were of the United States Army, includ- 
ing 320 officers; 991, including 59 officers, were of the 
marine troops. At the head of all these troops, under the 
Provisional Governor, of course, was Brigadier-General 
Thomas H. Barry, with headquarters at Marianao, eight 
miles from the city of Havana. It was not deemed neces- 



3o6 WITH spe:aker cannon through thk tropics. 

sary to place any American troops in the city of Havana, 
but companies were assigned to all of the principal towns in 
the various provinces of the RepubHc. We had duplicated 
the police system of the Island of Cuba from the regular 
army of the United States. We had estabHshed a Camp 
Columbia as a general headquarters of our "standing Cuban 
Army," and, in order not to hurt the feelings of the patriotic 
natives, we had called it "the Army of Cuban Pacification." 

It was extremely important that we should not hurt the 
feelings of the natives, and so, too, we had appointed under 
the Provisional Governor, to co-operate as the adviser to 
the Major-General commanding the armed forces of Cuba 
(numbering approximately 5,000 men, including artillery and 
rural guards, mounted and unmounted), Major H. J. 
Slocum, of the Second United States Cavalry. Our troops 
had left the United States October 14, 1906; had landed from 
October loth to 22d, and had since co-operated with the 
rural guards through our Provisional Governor and the army 
officers at Camp Columbia, where the American flag did float 
near Marianao. To the staff of the Provisional Governor 
of Cuba, in addition to Major F. S. Foltz, of the Fifteenth 
United States Cavalry, and Captain J. A. Ryan, of the same 
command, had been added Captain Jose Marti, Cuban 
Artillery, son of one of Cuba's heroes. To be sure, had any 
great disturbances in the United States necessitated the pres- 
ence of the troops, they could have been drawn away from 
Cuba in three or four days, but no such disturbance had 
arisen, and therefore it was perhaps good field work for them 
on the island. 

But what else were we doing at this particular time at the 
expense of the United States for our prospering but dis- 
contented ward? 

At the time of our visit there were in Cuban waters no 



the: island of CUBA. 307 

less than 33 vessels of the United States Navy, having on 
board 9,000 officers and men. The vessels then actually in 
and around Cuban harbors included the first-class battle- 
ships Maine, Louisiana, Missouri, Virginia, Nezv Jersey, 
Rhode Island, Alabama, Illinois, Kentucky, Kearsarge, Ohio, 
Indiana and lozm; the protected cruisers Columbia, Tacoma 
and Des Moines; the converted cruisers Dixie and Prairie; 
the cruiser Yankton; the gunboat Paducah; the supply ship 
Glacier; the auxiliaries Caesar, Leonidas, A fax, Arethusa 
and Nero ; the torpedo boat destroyers Hopkins, Hull, Mac- 
Donough, Truxton, Whipple and Worden; and at the Guan- 
tanamo Bay Naval Station, the station ship Amphitrite. 

It was not intended, of course, that all these vessels should 
remain in Cuban waters, and the orders, I believe, had actu- 
ally been prepared for them to sail about the middle of April, 
but it was the expectation that the Columbia, the Tacoma, 
the Des Moines, the Dixie, the Prairie and the Amphitrite, 
with approximately 1,200 officers and men on board, should 
remain in and about Cuba until further notice. 

I have indicated that the population of the single City of 
Philadelphia is nearly as great as that of the whole Republic 
of Cuba; its manufacturing output is greater than that of 
the entire manufacturing and agricultural output of the Re- 
public. The entire police force necessary for the mainte- 
nance of peace and order in Philadelphia is less than 2,400 
men. It is, therefore, interesting to note that Cuba had, at 
the time of our visit, upwards of 5,000 artillery men and 
rural guards, about 6,400 United States troops, and 8,000 
sailors and marines, a total of 19,400 armed men to main- 
tain the peace. Considering the entire question of our rela- 
tions to the Republic of Cuba, it seemed to me that Secretary 
Taft had been most happy in describing it as "national 
altruism." It was the very sublimity of altruism, and yet 



308 WITH SPEAKER CANNON THROUGH THE) TROPICS. 

we had no sooner entered the Port of Havana than booklets 
and papers were thrust under our noses, indicating that a 
very large proportion of the people of this restless Republic 
were clutching at each other's throats, one set seeking to 
hasten the elections in order that the American occupation 
might be ended, and the other demanding that the United 
States continue in control for an indefinite period. 

In the Havana Daily Post on the day of our arrival was 
an editorial indicating that the various leaders of native sen- 
timent were fighting over elections and that the breach be- 
tween the factions was widening. In the Havana Daily Tele- 
graph was a communication criticising Governor Magoon 
and placing in his mouth the words : "I represent at this 
moment all of the powers — the legislative, the executive and 
the constitutional ; I am the law, and the only legality now 
alive in Cuba. I am the power and I am the law." This 
was not the Telegraph's own view, but was an excerpt from 
a satirical paper in the interior. 

The gaming spirit of the Cuban people and the charge 
that "graft-protected gambling" existed in Havana, were 
the subject of an editorial in the Telegraph, as was the more 
important problem of "The Cuban Negro and Cuba's 
Future." Quoting from an American magazine, which had 
published an article proclaiming the negro a superior work- 
man and better fighter than the white Cuban, which article 
also declared that the Cuban negro, along with the other 
Cuban soldiers, had come to the belief that the "blowing up 
of the Maine" had nothing to do with the independence of 
the people and the overthrow of the Spaniards, the Telegraph 
said : 

"This belief in their own prowess and formidableness has, 
within the past half year, been greatly strengthened by the 
recognition given to the leaders of last summer's revolution 



THU ISI.AND 01^ CUBA. 309 

and the conciliating policy of the Provisional Government, 
which the ignorant dupes of these leaders attribute to 
weakness and fear." 

The editor then proceeded to speak of "the dangers that 
threaten Cuba's future and bid fair to become imminent 
should the United States again abandon the island to the 
unskilled guidance of its people." 

So much for editorial comment. I now take up "The 
Duty of the United States in Cuba" and "El Protectorado," 
two pamphlets translated into English, containing opinions 
of prominent Cubans, and articles published by Cuban news- 
papers, relating to the question of Cuba and the United 
States, which were handed to us at the very threshold of the 
Republic. In both the cry is "Cuba for Cubans Under the 
Guarantee and Protection of the United States;" yes, again, 
the penny and the cake both. 

But listen ! "The first experiment of a Cuban Republic 
has been a dismal failure," writes Jose de Armas. ''' * '^ 
"Once again, for four years and six months, Cuba's inter- 
national position is at the mercy of the wavering internal 
politics of the United States and dependent on the uncertain 
promises of the government at Washington, which are less 
definite and authorized now than in 1898." And then, after 
much of Cuba's patriotic blood has been shed by the writer, 
we find it declared "that, judging the future by the past, 
many now fear that in case of a repetition of the abandon- 
ment of the island by the American Army, as was done in 
1902, the disorders of 1905 and 1906 will be repeated, and 
following them another intervention without any pledge 
whatever to keep Cuba for the Cubans, but with the evident 
intention of ruling the island with an iron hand." 

The writer tells us "there is no such thing as superior and 
inferior races, but only those of more or less political experi- 



3IO WITH spe:ake:r cannon through thi: tropics. 

ence, and this is precisely what the Cubans lack. The Hon- 
orable William H. Taft, Secretary of War of the United 
States, has recognized this, stating that the so-called superi- 
ority of the Anglo-Saxons in self-government means nothing 
but 300 years more of practice in the exercise of that form 
of government." And so the argument continues, first 
pleading to the United States on the ground that the Cubans 
are powerless to help themselves, and then insisting that the 
United States shall hold aloof and simply train up the Cubans 
so that they may become as independent of the United States 
as of any other power. 

''We repudiate alike the foreign tyrant and the dictator at 
home," writes one of the Cuban patriots, "but we wish also 
that the right the United States has now of intervening in 
Cuba be substituted by supervision, in order that the Ameri- 
can government divide with the Cuban the responsibility of 
preventing insurrections. If the Americans go now in 
order to come back again and conquer us, it would not only 
be an injustice, but an infamy." 

In a word, the professional Cubans of to-day would like to 
occupy to the national government of the United States the 
same relation that is held by the State of Maine or the State 
of Pennsylvania ; they would like to have protection, sanita- 
tion and all the advantages of free interstate commerce; 
they would like to call upon our army or our navy whenever 
necessary to put down an insurrection in Cuba, but they 
would like to be entirely free from any oversight. Men of 
refinement and property, whose wealth is in momentary 
danger from the insurgents and fire-brands of the island, are 
anxious for the United States to keep its army and navy 
somewhere near at hand, just as the army and navy of Great 
Britain are at the disposal of Barbados or if Trinidad, but the 
insurgent and office-seeking malcontent wants the army and 



the: isivAnd 01^ CUBA. 311 

navy of the United States to go, in order that he may have a 
chance to display his "patriotism" and share in the wealth of 
those who are protected by the strong arm of the United 
States. 

When a favorable opportunity came I sought the opinion 
of Speaker Cannon upon the Cuban situation. Without re- 
gard to any conclusions of my own, I quote what he said : 

"The world abounds in the savings of investors and thrifty 
people, and wherever safe investment is assured there such 
savings will go. To a large extent they have gone into Porto 
Rico, although what may be called corporate capital is also 
conspicuous there ; but Porto Rico is going forward because 
American money is being utilized in the island. Wherever, 
also, our capital has gone we have induced improvement. 
American street car systems in Trinidad and Jamaica, for 
instance ; American hotels in other islands ; American fruit 
lines, tobacco and sugar companies, all these and other enter- 
prises give employment to the people of the islands and en- 
courage the circulation of money. It has been observed, too, 
that the stable government assured by the United States in 
Porto Rico and the confidence of capitalists elsewhere has 
proven attractive to the more enlightened and progressive 
people of the islands, especially as it has appeared that the 
government of those islands has been more a burden than a 
source of profit to the European powers. 

"Cuba presents a problem with which the United States 
must deal," said the Speaker, thoughtfully. "Nominally 
independent, the island still insists upon American control in 
order that it may be saved from revolution and anarchy. 
The obligation we have assumed in this regard is serious and 
at times embarrassing, and though the obligation must be 
kept, the present condition is unnatural and cannot continue 
forever. 



312 WITH spe:ake:r cannon through the: tropics. 

''Capital is going into Cuba not as rapidly as it might, but 
still rapidly, because of the American protectorate. If the 
Cuban Government itself was stable and the American 
troops might be withdrawn, the island would undoubtedly 
be most productive and prosperous, but the fear of revolu- 
tion and the dread of anarchy are still prevalent and will 
increase as the time for the withdrawal of the provisional 
government of the United States draws nigh. It is the 
same with Cuba as it is with other islands of the West Indies. 
There must be stable government such as the United States 
could give or there will be no settled peace and prosperity." 

At this point one of our party suggested that the end of it 
all would be annexation ; that the United States, with other 
interests to look after, could not be constantly coming at the 
beck and call of the property-owning, law-abiding, money- 
making people of Cuba to protect them and their interests 
against the revolutionary class ; that it must be a part of the 
United States ultimately, because of its own inability to 
control itself. 

"That word annexation," said Mr. Cannon, "irritates. 
Perhaps it would be better not to use it. The United States 
is pledged not to annex Cuba, and our policy has been op- 
posed to annexation, except in response to the appeal of the 
people who desire to come under the protection of the Amer- 
ican flag. We took Porto Rico and the Philippines because 
we were forced so to do by the fortunes of war. We had to 
take them to prevent their falling into the hands of other 
nations which might use them to our disadvantage. Pre- 
vious annexations, such as Texas and Hawaii, were made at 
the request of the people in power in those territories. When 
Cuba makes the request it will be time enough to take up the 
question, unless Cuba should prove herself so incompetent 
when next given her independence and become such a 



THE ISIvAND O:^ CUBA. 313 

menace as to make some other action necessary. It is not 
unnatural, however, that we should look forward to the 
time when Cuba will became a part of the United States, 
and when the other islands of the Caribbean Sea shall be 
similarly regarded." 

I anticipate somewhat, but after our arrival in Havana I 
prodded an army officer on the question of Cuban politics. 

''The greed for office," he said, "has much to do with the 
restless and insurrectionary tendencies of the natives. The 
rural population wants its share and will burn to get it. 
That's the reason the rich planters want protection. Give 
them offices and the insurgents will be satisfied." 

"But what of party ties?" 

"There are conservatives and liberals, but that means 
Zayas, or Gomez, or Menocal, or some other individual, ac- 
cording to his probable power to 'deliver the goods !' " 

"And the native voter ?" 

"He's like the foxy Western negro who found what his 
vote was worth. The canvasser called and sounded the 
wife. 

" 'Is Mose still a Republican?' he asked. 

" 'Can't tell,' said mammy. 'He ain't been home since 
morning.' " 



CHAPTER XII. 

HAVANA. 

The Cuban City Beautiful — Governor Magoon a Visitor — A Story on 
Penrose — Masonry in Toral's Surrender — The American Officers' 
Club — Tacon the Man of Action — The Mayor and the Tenderloin 
— Cannon's Tribute to the Drayman — Reception at the Governor's 
Palace — Columbus's Bones and the Fort of DeSoto — Havana's 
Social Swirl— The Gypsy Rigo— A Salute at the Morro— The 
Labyrinthian Fortifications — Where Cuban Martyrs Died — 
Palma and His Lost Cause — Property Owners Who Want Pro- 
tection — Dinner at Minister Morton's — The Exciting Game of 
Jai Alai — The Governor Remembers a Friend. 

A beautiful city — Havana; naturally, and by the hand of 
man. With its Prado and its Malecon, its parks, its churches 
and its statues ; its stately and artistic buildings, its orna- 
mental and substantially-built homes — indeed, there was 
something captivating about it all. We expected to enjoy 
ourselves in the capital city, for it had been pictured as 
another Paris and Naples combined, with a little of Monte 
Carlo thrown in. The launches were ready, and we were 
preparing to land when a boarding party made its way to 
the Speaker's state-room. They might have searched the 
island over and not done better. 

"It's Governor Magoon," said Tawney, as the Taft-like 
form of the Provisional Governor grasped the Speaker's 
hand — "another Minnesota boy." 

"But he isn't boasting of it," laughed Sherman ; "he's 
been to Nebraska since." 

Accompanying the Governor were Major-General Ale- 
jandro Rodriguez, the Commander-in-Chief of the Cuban 

314 




NATIVE FUNERAI., HAVANA. 



the: city 01^ HAVANA. 317 

troops; his United States adviser, Major H. J. Slocum, 
Second United States Cavalry, and Colonel Carlos M. de 
Rojas of the Cuban Artillery; the American Consal-Gen- 
eral, Frank Steinhart, a Pennsylvanian, hailing from Allen- 
town ; Captain Robert E. L. Michie, of the General Staff, 
U. S. A., who had been detailed from Washington ; Cap- 
tain J. A. Ryan, Fifteenth Cavalry, U. S. A., aide to the 
Provisional Governor, and Lieutenant-Commander Sypher, 
U. S. Navy. Trooping along with the party were Mr. 
Alvord, the New York Herdd's representative at Havana, 
and Mr. Patchin, of the New York Sun. 

It was not long before the Congressional party found it 
had come in contact with a big-bodied, big-hearted, big- 
minded man. Some of us had not met Governor Magoon 
before, but we liked him. He ''looked the part" of an 
American representative in a trying position abroad. There 
was nothing nervous about him. The annoyances of the 
island were not disturbing him. He was jovial, in fact. I 
gloried in the knowledge that Pennsylvania had at least 
been recognized in a consular position — at Havana. 

*'Yes," said the Governor, ''you've got Steinhart, and I've 
brought him along in self-defence." 

Steinhart smilingly acquiesced, and the Governor told 
the story. The joke was on the senior Senator from 
Pennsylvania. 

The Metcalf party had been in Havana a few days before 
our arrival, and the Governor had received them. They 
slyly suggested that Senator Penrose was very much 
interested in Havana, and would probably make some 
inquiries on his own account. The Governor had not been 
told the reason, but that developed in due course. 

The Senators, it seems, had tired of the monotony of the 
voyage on the Dolphin and looked about for some diversion. 



3i8 WITH spe:aker cannon through thi: tropics. 

Penrose was within hearing. Said Hale to Carter, in lan- 
guage parliamentary, but very like this : "It's queer that 
Magoon should fire Steinhart ! Are you sure it was in the 
Postf" Said Carter to Hale, "It was in the Post, and it must 
be true. He not only fired him, but sent him off in a boat. 
Where do you think he got his authority?" 

"What's that?" exclaimed Penrose, pricking up his ears. 
"Who says he's fired?" 

"Why," said Carter, "I was just reading it in the Wash- 
ington Post. Where is that Post? I had it only a minute 
ago." 

An exhaustive search for the Post, of course, did not 
reveal it. It must have blown overboard. 

"Well, anyway," said Hale to Carter, "it said that Magoon 
had taken offense at something Steinhart had done and had 
ordered him to leave the island." 

"The deuce he ordered him to leave the island !" roared 
Penrose. "Steinhart knows more about Cuba in a minute 
than Magoon knows in a month. I'll look into this. Magoon 
has got it in for Pennsylvania, evidently." 

From that time until they reached Havana, Penrose was 
ready to meet Magoon. He could hardly wait to get ashore 
to demand an explanation of "that damned Nebraska 
lawyer." The denouement came in the evening. The 
unsuspecting Magoon had arranged a dinner, and cordially 
placed the Senator from Pennsylvania on his right hand. It 
was the last ditch. 

"Where's Steinhart?" asked the Pennsylvanian, looking 
squarely into the eyes of his host. 

Now, it happened that Steinhart that very afternoon had 
excused himself to the Governor to accompany a party of 
New York friends into the interior. So, innocently enough, 
the Governor replied : 



THE CITY O:^ HAVANA. 319 

"He's gone away." 

''Gone away!" ejaculated Penrose, stiffening for a fight. 
"Where's he gone? Who sent him away?" 

"Nobody sent him away that I'm aware of," said the sur- 
prised Governor. 

"Where is he?" demanded Penrose. 

"In the country." 

"In the country? What's he doing in the country?" 

"I'm sure I don't know. Entertaining his friends I 
suppose." 

"Entertaining his friends. Well, I'm going to find out 
about this," and the angry Senator turned his attention to 
the dinner. 

To the observing Senators, the situation was a source of 
the greatest amusement, but, presently, behold ! Steinhart. 
Explanations were unnecessary. Penrose understood. 

Under the escort of the Governor, the Speaker and party 
landed at the famous customs wharf. Quite a crowd had 
assembled, including His Excellency, Emilio Nunez, the 
Governor of the Province of Havana ; Mayor Cardenas, of 
Havana City ; the American Minister, Mr. E. V. Morgan ; 
former Congressman Hawley, of Texas, representing large 
sugar interests in Cuba ; Edward G. Vaughan, president of 
the American Club; Heinrich Runken, president of the 
German Club, together with representatives of the Spanish 
Casino, the Cuban Clubs, the Chamber of Commerce and 
financial institutions. In this company, the Speaker was 
made to feel at home at once. He found almost everybody 
speaking Enghsh and observed that Americans were 
figuring in the business and financial progress of the island. 
I also learned that Governor Nunez had interests in Phila- 
delphia and occasionally visited the city. 

"There's a good fellowship everywhere," I observed to 



320 



WITH SPE:AK^R cannon THROUGH THE TROPICS. 



Bartleman, ''if you know how to cultivate it. A returning 
officer of the Spanish- American War told me that Masonry 
played an important part in the negotiations that induced 
Toral to surrender to Shafter at Santiago." 

"I had not heard of it," said the inspector of consulates, 
''but it may interest you to know that, although the first 
attack was made upon my consulate at Malaga, every pos- 




APPROACH TO COLON CEMETERY, HAVANA. 



sible courtesy was shown to my family and myself. That 
was the result of fraternal association." 

In a special trolley car, marked "Particular," the Con- 
gressional party was escorted to Marianao, about six miles 
outside of Havana, for a brief sojourn at the American Offi- 
cers' Club. The ride through the city revealed to us many 
of the historic buildings, including old fortifications and the 
Governor's palace. We had a fine chance also to observe 



the: city of HAVANA. 32 t 

the stores and the houses of residents with their elaborate 
colonnades, handsome iron gratings and mahogany doors, 
for the Cubans are extremely particular about their windows 
and doors. For quite a distance beyond the city our road 
carried us close to the sea, giving us a splendid view of the 
ocean and the coral rock formations along the shore. The 
streets in Havana were paved with Belgian blocks and 
macadam ; there were many parks and squares highly orna- 
mented by tropical foliage. We passed the old jail where 
the garrote is employed in executions, and the leper hos- 
pital, which is in the l3uilt-up portion of the city. The 
])olicemen of the city along the i)rincipal driveways were 
mounted and proved to be an unusually handsome-looking 
body of men. Baseball was played by the gamins on every 
available lot, and on the billboards we observed many 
familiar faces, including those oi Tydia Pinkham and Gov- 
ernor Douglas, of Massachusetts. The inscriptions, how- 
ever, were in Spanish. 

Approaching Marianao, which is virtually a suburb of 
Havana, we passed the headquarters of the American Army, 
and observed that the streets were given familiar names, as, 
for instance, "General Maceo Street," or "General Fitz- 
hugh Lee Street." We stopped for a few moments at the 
Officers' Club and found some fresh American papers, 
including one which presented on the front page the intel- 
lectual physiognomy of William Alden Smith, the new Sen- 
ator from Michigan, with a lengthy sketch of his life from 
the beginning as a newsboy. 

We discussed the roads and particularly the magnificent 
drive along the ocean front, from the fortifications at 
Havana Harbor, and much credit was given General Leon- 
ard Wood, who had cleaned up Havana, changing it from a 
disease-infected port to a city of exceeding cleanliness and 



322 WITH SPE:AKI:R CANNON THROUGH THI^ TROPICS. 

beauty. He had made of a former dump along the ocean the 
greatest drive for fashionable folk of which the city now 
boasted. But, as praise was being bestowed upon the work, 
I picked from the table a book, in which appeared a descrip- 
tion of Miguel Tacon, a Governor-General sent by Spain to 
Cuba in 1834, who seems to have had a tremendous iiiterest 
in the development of the island. If all that was said of him 
was true, the celebrated "butcher," Weyler, was a tyro in 
autocracy. 

Lawlessness prevailed all over the island, and a former 
Governor, appealed to by citizens, had said : 

''Do as I do ; never go out after dark." 

But Tacon was a man of action. He cut off the heads of 
robbers and exhibited them as "horrible examples." He 
picked up vagrants and established a chain-gang of 2,000, 
whom he set to work building roads, bridges and prisons; 
he was the terror of the gamblers, and broke up the petty 
official graft that had existed throughout the island. He 
seized, tried and exiled the natives arbitrarily, and yet the 
spirit of justice prevailed, because, on one occasion, he set- 
tled a dispute between a poor man and a planter by paying 
the former what was claimed to be due from the latter, 
leaving the planter in the unhappy position of repudiating 
the debt to himself or incurring his enmity. He confiscated 
money employed in various enterprises, as, for instance, the 
slavery trade or in gambling, and devoted it to the Orphan 
Asylum. He was said, on one occasion, to have appeared 
before a necromancer, who was taking the money of the 
credulous natives for foretelling events, and on being told 
that the horoscope revealed for him "a bright future of 
wealth, power," etc., seized the cards, and, proclaiming him- 
self a fortune-teller, shuffled them and said : 

"I see that you will be breaking stone in Morro Castle in 
less than an hour, and will stay there two years." 



THL: city of HAVANA. 323 

It was this Tacon who appears to have made road-build- 
ing respectable in Cuba, long before it was found by Gen- 
eral Wood to have so sadly degenerated. 

An amusing incident -of our visit to Marianao arose from 
an inquiry by one 'of the party as to the tenderloin of 
Havana. We had seen residences of great beauty and had 
gone through the business section, which teemed with busy 
shoppers and tradespeople, but what of the slums ? The red- 
light district, if you please? The question was put first to 
Captain Ryan, the Provisional Governor's aide. Taking it 
humorously, the Captain passed the (piestion adroitly to 
Major Slocum. 

"The" tenderloin !"■ said the Major, affecting surprise, "you 
will have to ask Vaughan." 

As Vaughan was a banker, he was naturally ignorant 
upon the subject, and passed it along to Governor Magoon. 
The Governor was also "on," and submitted that such an 
inquiry was beyond his province, and must necessarily be 
I'esponded to by the Mayor. Now, Mayor Cardenas was 
a most polite and obliging gentleman, but his knowledge of 
English was not good. With true, native pride, he had 
been saying "yes, yes," to almost every proposition which 
tended to extol the beauty and development of ' his city. 
Then, bluntly, the Governor pushed the question tO' him. 
He observed that the entire party was at attention, and that 
hfe was being addressed. He stared blankly, then smiled, 
to have us believe that he thoroughly comprehended the 
question, and deliberately answered : 

"Oh— everything — all— right." 

"How' do the natives treat the American soldiers ?" I 
asked one of the army officers. 

"' "We have no trouble with them," was the response, "and, 
so far as we can observe, they are- quiet, but most of us f pel 



324 WITH SPEAKER CANNON THROUGH THI) TROPICS. 

that they are ready to break out just as soon as the troops 
and warships leave." 

"Is it the whole people, or just the agitators?" 

"It's the small fellows who cause the trouble," was the 
reply, "the men who have brains enough to scheme for 
office and who induce other men to fight their battles." 

"Like the pale-faced student, who interrogated Speaker 
Cannon during one of his political speeches in Illinois," I 
suggested. 

The officer desired to hear the story, and I told him as 
well as I could remember. 

The Speaker was making an address in Danville, in 
which he advocated the continuance of a government which 
had done so much for the people. The student, who had 
evidently been devoting his midnight oil to the fixed prob- 
lems of political economy and who had mixed them up with 
sociahsm and the teachings of Karl Marx, began to put his 
theoretical questions. He was ill at ease, but the Speaker 
permitted him to continue, and, when he had finished, drew 
a word-picture, parallehng the young man, with all his mis- 
taken learning, alongside of the town philanthropist, who 
had risen from a drayman and, by adherence to the fixed 
institutions, had been able to leave benefactions to uplift the 
people. 

"If you were going to erect a monument to the man who 
had done most for you, who had given you the greatest hap- 
piness," said the Speaker, "would you bestow that honor 
upon the memory of the man who 'thinks too much,' and 
whose excessive reading would tend to disrupt and destroy ? 
Or would you erect it to the memory of the honest and 
industrious man who had no scholarly attainments, but 
whose heart, whose hand, and whose money had been 
devoted, without question, to the common good?" 



the: CITV^ O^ HAVANA. 325 

''That is exactly the situation in Cuba," said the officer. 
"We have a lot of bright young agitators and too few of the 
solid type. The land-owners, the responsible men, are all 
right. If we could make property-holders of them all, we 
might tell a different story. It reminds me of the pugna- 
cious Irish teamster in New York. He was continually 
jumping off his wagon to thrash someone, and his employ- 
ers thought it extraordinary if they didn't have to bail him 
out of a police-station at least once a day. 

"He simply loved to fight. You may imagine his employ- 
ers' surprise then, when one afternoon, Pat came driving 
serenely up the street with a man not half his size trotting 
behind his wagon and calling him all the vile names he could 
think of. 

" 'Why, Pat,' said the boss, 'what's come over you. I 
have seen you lick a man twice as big for half as little?' 

" 'Ah, sure,' said Pat, 'that was different. I just got a bit 
of property in me name jistherday, and it's after a damage- 
suit that chap is.' " 

"You think, then," I asked, "that as conditions now are, 
the people are really unable to govern themselves ?" 

"Unquestionably. Palma had lost his grip entirely when 
Secretary Taft issued his proclamation, and the American 
troops took possession in October, 1906. The same thing 
would happen if a new President were to be elected now 
and we were to retire and leave him to his own people." 

That afternoon we were to attend a reception at the 
mansion occupied by Governor Magoon, and, in the mean- 
time, we amused ourselves by running around the city. It 
had the Parisian open-air cafes, with tables on the sidewalks. 

Although everybody seemed to be drinking, there was 
no drunkenness. In the two days I was there, I saw 
not a single drunken person. Everybody — men, women and 



^2() WITH SrJvXKJvR CANNON TllROUCll/rilK TROriCvS. 

children — appeared to smoke, which was perhaps only 
natural in a country where they raise the finest tobacco 
in the world. , 

The Governor had gathered together some, delightful 
people to meet the Speaker and party, including General 
and Airs. Alfred Elliot liates and former Senator and JNTrs. 
J. l^ayard Henry, of Philadelphia. There \vas a reason 
for the presence of Mrs. liates. She had been m Cuba for 
some months at the invitation of Governor Magoon, who, 
being a bachelor, was in a quandary, as to how he. should 
run the executive establishment. He. desired , to. entertain,, 
because the wealthv people of Havana are exclusive ..and 
great sticklers for the social proprieties. It fell, therefore,, 
to the lot of General and l\lrs. liates to help out in this, 
particular, and right royally had Mrs. liates performed her 
part, for we were told that the elite of the city had come to 
regard Governor Mago.ojias one of the best administrators 
and friends the island had seen. 

It was a magnificent palace, that home of the Governor.-, 
with a park in front and a patio inside, and a rich band to 
furnish the executive music. The surroundings were so 
poetic, and polished fioors so inviting, that Speaker Cannon, 
renewing- his acquaintance with the . good lady who had 
helped along the social side of the Governor's life, could 
not refrain from inviting her to a waltz, an invitation that 
was promptly accepted. ^ . , 

Among those receiving were the Governor's aides in 
uniform, including Captain Marti, the representative of the 
Cuban Army. ., . 

From the palace, on the way to the ship to dress for din- 
ner, we were induced by Major Slocum to stop for a 
moment at his home in the famous old Le Fuerza (the. fort). 
Wq passed the old church of San Francisco, .which had 



i*lll^ CITY 01^ HAVANA, 327 

been turned into a customs warehouse because of its occu- 
pancy and consequent desecration as a place of Roman 
Catholic worship by Lord Albemarle in 1762, and viewed 
also the Cathedral, where the bones of Christopher Colum- 
bus were said to have rested for a century. Restless as he 
himself in the living flesh once was, had been the bones of 
the great discoverer. Dying in Valladolid, in 1508, he was 
buried there, and his body was removed to Seville shortly 
afterward, in accordance with a provision in his will. In 
1536, his bones were taken to San Domingo and deposited 
in the Cathedral there, but when the island passed into the 
hands of the French, in 1795, the bones were hastily taken 
up again and borne to Cuba. There they lay in a niche in 
the Cathedral, until the Spanish evacuated the island, in 
1898. They were then taken to Seville. At least, such was 
our information. Meanwhile, the authorities of the San 
Domingo Cathedral profess to have discovered the ''real" 
bones of Columbus, and have built a costly tomb of sculp- 
tured marble for them. 

Students of earlier fortifications would fall in love with 
La Fuerza. To me, it was one of the greatest treats in 
Havana. The most practical and prosaic of men could sit 
and dream there on its parapets, or beside its drawbridge. 
The old fort antedates Morro Castle by half a century. 
When De Soto was Governor of Cuba, in 1538, he built it, 
and, as soon as he saw its defenses completed, the year fol- 
lowing, he set off on that momentous exploring expedition 
up the Mississippi River, leaving his wife. Dona Isabel de 
Bobadilla, iti command of La Fuerza. 

Four long, weary years she watched and waited for the 
wanderer to return, and then, instead of De Soto, came strag- 
glers from the continent, who told of the death of the 
explorer and his burial in "the Father of Waters." 



328 WITH SPKAKKR CANNON THROUGH TH^ TROPICS. 

The romantic old fort gave the impression of massive- 
ness and stability. The moat and drawbridge looked as 
impregnable as they were designed to be, and the bastions, 
terrepleins and towers were as solemnly ferocious as if mod- 
ern guns and warships had never been invented. 

Mrs. Slociim, who came in from a horseback ride, found 
us luxuriating in the exquisitely quaint furniture suggestive 
of De Soto's time, breathing in the aroma of the rich flowers 
which embellished the otherwise gloomy surroundings. 

"You have the advantage over the Major when he comes 
home late," said the Speaker. 

''Yes," she replied with a laugh. ''It's easy to pull up the 
drawbridge. And, just for the sake of the traditions, we 
still do raise and lower it." 

In the evening, at the Miramar, we were the guests of Mr. 
Hawley, of Texas. The old Congressional associations 
had overcome him, and he desired to play the host for 
"Auld Lang Syne." Full evening dress was again the order, 
not only for the dinner-party, but for most of the guests of 
the hotel, who drove up in all the splendor of an August 
parade at Newport. The night was superb, and the busy 
scene around the Malecon, on which the hotel fronted, evi- 
denced the love of the wealthy Cubans for the picturesque 
and grandiose. Many of the people seated about the Stu- 
dents' Monument, in the park, between the Carcal Presidio 
and Punta Castle, were accompanied by winter sojourners 
from the United States and Europe, but the Cubans, natur- 
ally, were in the majority, and they were a prosperous-look- 
ing lot. The swirl of handsome equipages coming in from 
the Calzada de San I^azara, the Prado and other notable 
thoroughfares, and the dust of automobiles, provoked 
expressions of amazement. 

"Dreamy, isn't it?" said Gummere, who was giving a 
little dinner party of his own. 



TilJ^ CITY 01^ HAVANA. 329 

''You are," said Hancock with kindly reference to the 
handsome Trentonian's state of mind. 

''Where do the people get the money ?" I inquired. 

"You have no idea of the wealth and culture in Havana,'* 
responded the Consul-General. Some of those people are 
rich and exclusive as the Knickerbockers, the Cadwaladers 
or the Biddies." 

"And are they unable to govern themselves ?" 

"No; but they would be overcome if insurgency and out- 
lawry should again prevail." 

"And the common people — the insurgents, if you please — 
is it not a little of this magnificence that incites their rest- 
lessness ?" 

"Perhaps." 

The dinner over, the Speaker, the Governor and party 
were the objects of a s])ecial concert led by the gipsy, 
Rigo. And the Princess was there, too ! At least the wise 
ones so declared. She was gorgeously attired, and her heart 
was set upon the player. And Rigo, how he played ! 

"I will present you," said one of the Cuban guests to 
members of the Bhiecher's party who had gathered with 
those enjoying the music. The Princess, "sighing like fur- 
nace," withdrew her glance from "the master" in the gallery 
and responded. But Rigo had dropped his bow, the per- 
formance was over and he stood by the Princess' side. The 
Americans were crowding the latter hard ; her fame had 
stirred their interest, but the gypsy leader was yet to be 
reckoned with. Why all these attentions to her ! 

"I am Rigo !" he exclaimed. 

"Yes," said the Princess. "This is Rigo ! The greatest 
musician in the world." 

"I am Rigo," persisted the musician, thumping himself on 
the chest. 

And the crowd took notice. 



330 wrrti spi^akKr cannon I^hkouCh tnt 'i'rofics. 

Harbor launches awaited us Saturday morning for a ride 
to Morro Castle, the most noted fortress in the West Indies. 
General Rodriguez, Major Slocum and Colonel Rojas ac- 
companied us. In Spanish, i the full title of the Alorro is 
Castillo de San Carlos de la Cabana; by common consent 
Cabana is fully comprehensive. 

In climbing the stone roads and steps to the top of the 
fortress, the Speaker and party were obliged to lift their hats 
several times to wipe away the perspiration, but once on the 
ramparts, looking out over the harbor of Havana and taking 
in the expansive sea-view, we \yere all amply compensated for 
the trip. The rocky Alorro and fortifications extend lOO feet 
above the sea. Moats and drawbridges met us at almost 
every turn in the wonderful labyrinth of roads and passage- 
ways within the walls. One could spend days in the old 
fortress without seeing it all. The historical interest was 
not so great, for no gun had ever been fired from these ram- 
parts in defence of Havana. The mammoth structure had 
been used mostly for prisons and for barracks. The work 
of construction, according to the inscription across the prin- 
cipal entrance, had commenced during the reign of Carlos 
III, in 1763, and the fortress had been completed in 1774. 
The cost of building during these eleven years amounted tn 
$14,000,000, and it was said that when the final report w^as 
made to the King of Spain, he lifted his hand to shade his 
eyes and looked out over the sea, pretending to discern the 
walls of so costly a structure. 

Stories of imprisonment and of executions were plentiful, 
but interest centered mainly in the time of Weyler, whose 
cruelty to the Cubans immediately preceding the Spanish- 
American War had much to do with arousing public senti- 
ment in the United States in favor of intervention. We 
were shown dungeons in which accused Cubans were in- 



.. . TiiJ-: CiTY Oi< HAVANA.. 331 

carcerated, many of them bearing upon the walls finger- 
marks of crosses and other insignia of the devotions of those 
who expected soon to face death. P>ut the point of greatest 
interest was "the laurel ditch," so called for the laurel trees 
that brighten up the shaded enclosure, where the shackled 
prisoners marked time to the music of Spanish bullets. On 
a high wall of this "ditch," reaching to a height of 20 feet, 
were the holes of bullets that had sped wide of the human 
marks. Covering many of them a bronze tablet to the 
memory of the Cu1:)an martyrs had been set by the school 
children of Havana. 

The "dead line," beyond which no Cuban could go alive, 
was pointed out, and over on one of the high walls where the 
Spanish populace was accustomed to assemble to witness the 
executions, we were shown the spot where a woman in black, 
presumably a Spaniard, was wont to sit and jeer, as the 
groans of the dying followed the crack of the ritie. 

In the Governor's quarters in this old fortress. President 
Palma had located during a part of the troublous times of 
his regime. I looked into the barricaded yard overlooking 
the city of Havana, where the flowers for his table had 
grown, but no life remained save that of a few fowl picking 
away at the soil between the stones. Palma had not long 
remained in the Morro. It was too gloomy and he had taken 
his chances in Havana. Prior to his abdication, according 
to Consul-General Steinhart, concerning whose own safety 
there had been unpleasant rumors, the city was engirdled by 
no less than 23,000 insurgents under three leaders, who were 
])repared to seize Palma, and to generally loot and kill. 

"We had 6,000 troops in and about the fortress at that 
time," said General Rodriguez, "and I tried to obtain 
another 3,000, but the request was not granted.'' 

Poor Palma, hemmed in as he was, had asked for Ameri- 



332 WITH SPKAKKR CANNON THROUGH THE TROPICS. 

can intervention. He probably did not expect the Ameri- 
cans to do more than uphold his hand, but his government 
had failed and the United States had stepped in to ad- 
minister the affairs of Cuba with no uncertain hand. When 
he learned the result of his appeal, the poor old President, 
broken in spirit, retired to a secluded life in the country. 

In front of the quarters where the President and the for- 
mer Governors had ruled, a body of Cuban troops was drawn 
up to salute the Speaker, and a Cuban military band of ex- 
cellent skill played in his honor "The Star Spangled 
Banner.'' 

"What percentage of property owners are there here?" 
asked the Speaker of one of the wealthy Cubans. 

''From five to ten per cent.," was the reply. 

"Does it ever occur to your business people, who have so 
much at stake, that they ought to take a firm stand against 
the agitators ; that they ought to make the fight ?" 

"We couldn't do it," was the answer. "There are two 
parties here, and we would be divided at any moment. If 
you will stay a few more years, we think we will be in better 
shape." 

The Speaker had been asking questions throughout the 
whole of this Cuban trip, and I found that he had been 
thinking of the position in which the United States had been 
placed by the Cuban intervention. 

"These rich fellows," he said, "are too cowardly to fight 
their own battles. They have put it up to us ; we are in the 
position that good old Cleveland found himself in on a 
memorable occasion. It is no longer a theory but a condi- 
tion which confronts us. We have got to take care of that 
condition. When this government is given back into the 
hands of the Cubans, England, or Germany, or any other 
country might, in perfect good faith, deal with these fellows 



the: city 01? HAVANA. 333 

to our disadvantage. We are in a different position in Porto 
Rico because there we never let go our hold ; here in Cuba 
we did, and we have got to keep our finger in here, whether 
we want to withdraw it or not. One thing is sure, we can- 
not settle this question in a day ; it will have to Avork out.'' 

From Cabana we took the launches for the cruiser 
Columbia, passing on the way the Lysistrata, \yith the owner, 
James Gordon Bennett, on board. A salute of 17 guns was 
fired from the Coluinbia, and the gallant crew was at atten- 
tion when Captain Beatty welcomed the Speaker. We found 
the ship as clean as a new pin and the officers and crew de- 
Ughted to welcome friends from home. We were inspecting 
the compartments below when Mann pushed me into a cell 
room and locked the door. A Jackie in trouble was already 
there. 

"What are you in for, sir?" he groaned. 

"General misconduct, I suppose. And you?" I asked. 

"I brought some whiskey aboard, sir." 

"Do you have much use for that cell-room ?" I inquired of 
an officer who opened the door. 

"Very little; but usually for the same cause." 

The visit to the Coluinbia was necessarily short, for invi- 
tations to the Speaker, through Mr. McKinley, were coming 
thick and fast. We lunched on the Bluecher, with our 
Cuban friends, and in the early afternoon were escorted 
through Havana in automobiles. Steinhart called for 
Tawney, Mann and myself, and gave us the benefit of his 
wide experience in the capital city. He was optimistic as to 
Cuba's future, but based it all upon unwavering interest, or 
paternalism, if you please, of the United States. From him 
we learned that American capital had taken confidence in 
the affairs of the island since the American occupation. He 
referred to a recent trolley transaction in which $13,000,000 



334 WITH SPE;AKIi:R CANNON THROUGH THE) TROPICS. 

of capital, formerly controlled by the English, had come 
under the direction of New Yorkers. Business had been 
booming round Havana and buildings apparently of great 
cost and certainly of fine architectural proportions were 
pointed out as evidencing the fact. Germans, too, were 
putting capital into the island. At least $3,000,000 had 
come from German sources since the Taft proclamation. 

The exports of the island greatly exceeded the imports. 
Laborers were getting $1.25 a day; machinists from $2.50 to 
$3.00, and cigarmakers, who were badly needed, commanded 
$18.00 a week and had no fixed hours, working very much 
as they pleased. 

The internal revenue system was peculiar. There were no 
real estate taxes, except on improvements, and the rate on 
these was eight per cent, of the rental value. The property 
owner did not pay unless the premises were occupied. 

"You seem to have many Americans in Havana," I said. 

"Yes, Havana is not only a great winter resort, but Ameri- 
cans are beginning to see that capital under protection can 
be profitably employed here." 

"How," I asked, "are Americans regarded?" 

"When they are known and understood," answered the 
Consul-General, "they are liked; but a great many sharpers 
come into this country, expecting to pick up the Cubans for 
geese ; they learn that the successful Cubans are bright and 
high-minded, and are capable of sizing them up as men. 
The adventurous people who had come front the States are 
those who have made the intelligent Cubans cautious. ' 

"Any American who knows the Spanish language," con- 
tinued Steinhart', "can get along in Cuba provided he treats 
the people right. If he puts on airs and assumes too much, 
they let him alone. The better class of Cubans have 'as 
i'riuch intelligence as he has. For any citizen of the United 



THE CITY OF HAVANA. 335 

States who will work with them there is a fine opportunity 
in this country. Governor Magoon is the kind of man they 
like. He listens to them when they come with grievances 
ai:d tells them he will do the best he can; he promises noth- 
ing he cannot assure." 

We had gone through the great driveways 'and parks ; we 
had visited many historic buildings and churches; had gone 
through the beautiful cemeteries and watched the funeral 
processions ; we had seen the monuments and listened to 
stories of patriotism, until our admiration of the city and its 
environment was evoked. 

Steinhart had told us of the old customs prevailing in the 
cemeteries where the bones of one corpse were tossed out to 
n:ake room for another whose relatives were better able to 
pay; had praised the work of improvement in building^ and 
on highways since the American occupation, and then re- 
turned us to the ship with the declaration that no man could 
properly see Havana in a day. ' 

"To get a correct impression of this city and its people," 
he said, "it would take an entire week." 

Again, in the evening, we found ourselves in full dress, 
riding from the Caballeria wharf through the city of Havana 
with its electric lights aglow, out into the beautiful country 
to Marianao, where, at the house of the American Minister, 
Mr. Morgan, the Speaker was to be entertained at dinner. 

Governor Magoori and the leading officials of the govern- 
ment were present. The house of the' American Minister 
belonged to one of the old Spanish families, a'Hida%0, and 
was probably the handsomest private structure we had seen 
in our travels. The display of tropical plants in the patio 
was a marvel of luxury and artistic arrangement. The 
rooms were -broad and handsomely adorned With sculpture, 
paintings and carved wood. The floral adornment of the 



336 WITH SPEAKER CANNON THROUGH THE TROPICS. 

interior varied from stately palm trees to low blossoming 
plants. 

At the close of the dinner we were taken under the escort 
of the Governor to witness a remarkable scene in the sporting 
life of Cuba. A game of jai alai had been extensively ad- 
vertised to be played that evening at the Fronton. In our 
journey ings we had studiously avoided bull-fights and had 
spurned numerous opportunities to witness cock-fights, 
which are so much a part of human entertainment in the 
tropics, but it was explained to us that jai alai was a game of 
ball, not baseball exactly, nor yet hand ball, but a mixture 
of both. It was admitted that jai alai was the swellest 
gambling game of all the many gambling recourses of the 
islands. Moreover, it required wonderful skill upon the part 
of the player, the skill of an athletic man, strong of nerve, 
swift in action and clear in sight. The Governor realized 
that the game affected the morals of the city, but he was 
powerless to prevent it, since it had been chartered by Gen- 
eral ^^^ood, when he was Military Governor, and had been 
sanctioned by the United States Congress through the Piatt 
amendment which ratified "all acts of the United States in 
Cuba during its military occupation thereof." 

When we arrived at the Fronton the game Avas in full 
blast. The scene on the floor and in the galleries was one 
of intense excitement. Four players, two upon each side, 
were catching a ball in a long, narrow curved basket called 
cestus, and were hurling it against the wall with wonderful 
skill and force. The game was to keep the ball going, the 
business of the opposition being to catch it on tlie rebound 
and return it against the wall. The cestus was strapped to 
the arm of the player and extended beyond the hand. 

The excitement on the floor was increasing as the score 
drew close to a tie. Men and women, pressing in crowds 



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TIIJ^ CITY OF HAVANA; 339 

against the ropes and moving excitedly about in gallery 
boxes, were cheering or hurling denunciations at the players ; 
betting was furious; the bookmakers jumped from woman 
to woman and man to man, recording their orders and ex- 
changing their money. Fully 2,odo highly-wrought people 
were backing their opinions in this way. 

"You can see for yourself," said the Goverhor to the 
Speaker, "what this game means. The players are from 
the Basque provinces ; they are engaged by the company 
which conducts this game for salaries ranging from $3,000 
to $5,000. The men are finely trained, but the work is so 
severe that most of the professionals die young." 

Scarcely had the words left the Governor's. mouth when 
the whole house, with its nearly 3,000 spectators, was in an 
uproar. A player had caught the ball, which looked no larger 
than the ordinary golf ball, and had, entirely within his rights, 
swung the cestus completely round his head in order to hold 
the ball and give additional force to the throw. Another 
player had stepped in the way and received the ball full in 
the temple. The injured man dropped in a heap, the blood 
bursting from his head and covering his entire body. Physi- 
cians and attendants, led by the player who had driven the 
ball, rushed to the victim and carried him off, as we were 
informed, to die. 

The effect upon the crowd was surprising. The chatter 
that followed the first thrill of compassion for the stricken 
man changed to exciting arguments over the consequences 
of his mishap in its relation to bets put upon him and his as- 
sociate in the game. Then, as the physicians were laboring 
with the unfortunate, came murmurings and mutterings as to 
the probability of a cessation of the game. The demand 
was for a continuance of the sport. "On with the game !" 
was the cry. And presently, when a new player, one of the 



340 WITH SPKAKKR CANNON THROUGH THE TROPICS. 

group of Basque professionals, appeared, the cheers of the 
muhitude rent the air. 

The game was renewed with earnestness and skill, but it 
was not until the end of the game that the temper of the 
audience could be fully determined. Then the cheers for 
the winners told that many had won, and the hoots and 
curses upon the losers, told that many had lost. 

"Brother Mann," said Governor jNIagoon, as we passed 
out through the crowd into the night, "I believe you and I 
have never met before, but before you go I want to thank 
you for the manner in which, without any suggestion from 
me, you defended my course as Governor of Panama. I 
had heard a great deal about your speeches, but I assure you 
I never read anything that gave me more pleasure than what 
you so kindly said about me in Congress. My task in 
Panama was a severe one, and some things were likely to be 
misunderstood, but you seemed to have an intuition." 

It may not have occurred to our Chicago friend that any- 
one would remember the circumstance, but some of us re- 
called that our colleague, Floyd, of \"irginia, had made an 
attack upon Governor Magoon, and that JNIann had risen, 
as usual, "to object." He had studied the conditions of 
Panama and knew what he was talking about, and while he 
had never met INIagoon, he defended his course as a simple 
matter of justice. So in acknowledging the Governor's sen- 
timent he simply said : 

"I think I made no mistake, and I am surprised you have 
such a memory." 

"Guess Mann can have anything he wants in Cuba !" said 
McKinley, as we started for the ship. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

NASSAU. 

Easter and Farewell — The Colors and Fruits of Nassau — Lo, the 
First of April — An Interrupted Reception — The Storm Breaks at 
Sea — Attempt to Reach the Ship — Thrilling Experience in a 
Tender — "Man Overboard !" the Cry — Returning Over the Bar — 
The Speaker and Party Marooned — Search for Clothes and 
Accommodations — The Widow Turns Nurse — Killing the Time 
Ashore — Mann and His "Sweetheart" — Tariff Debate in Parlia- 
ment — Where is the Bluecher? — Fertility of the Coral Soil — 
Congo Chief and Negro Village — Enterprise of the Local Papers 
— "The Bowery" Improvised — A Bridal Pair Caught — Sponge 
Fleet and the Markets — A Safe Harbor at Last — Welcome to the 
Ship. 

Easter Sunday at sea ! The air, the sky, the water, all 
combined to make it a gloriotts day. Many as had been 
the changes of costume during the past three weeks, the 
limitless resources of the women passengers enabled them 
still to bring forth new and pleasing novelties. The newly- 
weds, the prospectives, and the Widow vied with each other 
in a gorgeous show of millinery and lingerie. Fifth Aveniie 
and West Walnut Street may have had theirs, but we, too, 
had our Easter day parade. And what was more home- 
like, we had our Easter services, conducted in the afternoon 
by the Rev. Dr. Tififany. It was, all in all, a happy, joyous, 
restful occasion. 

The next evening the ship's officers contributed entertain- 
ment at dinner by handsomely decorating the dining room 
and tables and introducing a fatastic parade of the nations. 
The music was patriotic and the lights were lowered as the 

341 



342 WITH spKakKr cannon Through thi: Tropics. 

stewards, attired in the costumes of foreign countries, came 
forward with grotesque lanterns of pumpkins, melons and 
the like. 

"We're soon to part," was the comment of passengers, 
''and we must show our appreciation of the Captain." 

In a little while a committee, consisting of Mr. Sweet, of 




A GROUP ON THE COLONIA. 



Attleborough, Massachusetts; Mr. Runkel, of New York; 
Mr. Kenan, of Cincinnati ; Mr. Grant, of Chicago ; Mr. 
Heinl, of Terre Haute, and others, waited on the Speaker 
and asked him to present to the Captain a chronometer. It 
was a part of the general cleaning-up process, and the 
Speaker consented to act,, hut this, he opined, should be 
''the last speech !" . 



THE CITY 01? NASSAU. 343 

"That's fair/-' said the expectant committee, "for Nassau 
is to be the last stop, and we can't ask more !" 

Nassau was now in sight — a picturesque city on the 
island of New Providence, and the capital of the Bahama 
Islands. Noted for its mild and beneficent climate, Nassau 
has many attractions for the winter sojourner. Sponge 
fishing is one of its leading industries and sponges are its 
chief export, although its fruits, vegetables and barks enter 
largely into commerce. 

Owing to the dangerous nature of its coast, wrecking was 
once a profitable business, and "they do say'' that some of 
the good people of Nassau resented the introduction of 
lighthouses, buoys, and other measures for giving warning 
to mariners, but all that has long since passed awav. 

(ireat Britain controls the Bahamas, and Nassau is the 
seat of government. There the King's representative 
resides and there Parliament meets. A Bishopric of the 
Church of England also exists and a wholesome religious 
sentiment prevails among the natives, but as for progress — 
that is another story. The place is beautiful, but the natives 
find living easy. The old Spanish domination has disap- 
peared, and England has given the blacks their liberty — a 
liberty which embraces the glorious privilege of working 
when one pleases, and most of them enjoy it to the full. 
There are fine old families in Nassau, high-toned English- 
men and others, who do business and live well, but there 
are no street cars and no electric lights. The American and 
other visitors spend a great deal of money during the winter 
months, and the Flagler system of hotels has given an up-to- 
date tone to the naturally beautiful environment, but after 
the tourists go, Nassau relapses into a blissful state of 
quietude. 

Skeptical persons may flout the suggestion, but the date 



344 WITH SPI^AKl^R CANNON THROUCII I'lli: tROPlCS. 

of our arrival at Nassau was significant. It was April first — 
All Fools' clay. Our excellent appetites and the numerous 
delays of the voyage had cut into the ship's larder, and it 
was to be replenished at Nassau. This was an important 
consideration. Then some of the passengers intended to 
leave us at Nassau, for steamer to Miami, to hasten home 
by rail, and this, to them, was also important. Moreover, 
some very distinguished people at Nassau had been booked 
for passage with us to New York, because of the closing 
that day of the American hotel — the Colonial. The last 
hotel meal of the season was to be the luncheon served to 
us, and late in the afternoon we were to be aboard ship for 
the final run to New York. All this developed in the 
announcement following the presentation of the chronome- 
ter to the Captain. We were nearing the goal, and all was 
well. 

Rut still, it was April the first! 

The ship cast anchor a mile outside of Hog Island— a 
stretch of coral sheltering Nassau, because the depth of water 
over the bar and in the harbor was not sufBcient to admit her. 
We were waiting for the CoJonia, a large tender of the 
Ward Line, to take us ashore, when two stories of Nassau 
passed along the throng. One passenger mournfully 
recalled the drowning of his mother in a wreck on the reefs 
hereabouts, and another told of the loss of a son in the same 
distressful manner. Then a gentleman from Connecticut 
expressed his view. Nassau was familiar to him in another 
way. He admired its beauty; he had sketched its quaint 
streets and enchanting bowers. 

"Dear old Nassau !" he exclaimed. "One never goes 
without wanting to go again. One never leaves without 
regret." 

In the tender we soon rounded Hog Island, and at the 



'mat ctYY 01^ NASSAU. • 345 

wharf in Nassau we were met by the American Consul, 
Mr. Potter, nephew of Bishop Potter, of New York. A 
representative of the Governor, the Honorable William 
Gray Wilson, also waited on the Speaker, and invited the 
Congressional party to attend a reception at the Governor's 
house at four o'clock that afternoon. After conferring with 
Mr. McKinley and the ship's officers as to the time of 
departure, the Speaker accepted the invitation. But he, 
too, was unmindful of April the first. Desirous of seeing 
as much as possible of the island in the supposedly short 
space of time we had there, Mann, Hough and I took a 
carriage immediately and drove through and around the 
city, inspecting the Government buildings and the old and 
abandoned fortifications erected by the Spaniards. We 
went into the stores and curiosity shops, among others the 
shop kept by Camplejohn, in Bay Street, where conch 
shells, bits of coral, and other curios of the sea were 
displayed. The merchants, however, even to the street 
peddlers, had a distinct antipathy to American money. 
They would take none of it, except at a discount. The 
pickaninnies who ran behind the carriage, calling inces- 
santly, "Let the copper come, boss; let the copper come!" 
spurned the American brand. They were disappointed 
when we tossed them cents, and changed their cry to 
"Throw a white one, boss!" 

Mann was looking for tortoise shell combs and conch 
pearls, and when he had completed his purchases, we drove 
far out along the beach, where the glistening surface of the 
sea welcomed us to a good, old-fashioned swiin. In water 
clear as crystal, under the shade of the palms (and this was 
April the first), we dove and splashed as. in "the village 
swimmin' hole." . ; 

We found time, also, to take in' the famoitsi sea: gardens 



34^ WITH spe^akKr cannon Through thi^ tropics. 

of Nassau, or, at least, so much of them as an excitable 
(larky, whom we had hired to sail us hither, was able to 
bestow upon us. 'Our sloop had in tow a bateau with a 
glass bottom, to enable us to see through the remarkably 
clear water of the bay the marine life thereunder. Fish of 
various kinds and colors and beautiful formations of coral 
were thus revealed to us. The nervousness of our boat- 
man, who was not a good sailor, however, induced us 
to return early, and perhaps none too soon, for what we 
had taken to be a delightful ocean breeze had worked itself 
up into such a ferment that we were obliged to cut 
our way to the wharf throug-h the white-caps. It was 
also about time for the Governor's reception, and we were 
making ready to go when word came to us that a storm 
was threatening at sea, and the Captain had given orders 
for our return promptly at four o'clock. We found the 
Speaker dispatching Busbey to the House of the Governor 
to make apologies for our abrupt departure, for the Gov- 
ernor had hastily invited the members of Parliament and 
the distinguished residents of the island to meet the party. 

Busbey 's hack fairly stirred the dust in his haste to com- 
plete 'the errand and return to the wharf at the time 
appointed. 

By four o'clock all of the passengers had arrived, and 
the Colonia, which had made two trips earlier in the day, 
was prepared for her last trip to the ship. It happened that 
she was loaded with all the provisions with which our larder 
on the Bluccher was to be replenished. There were live 
turkeys and chickens, live green turtles of massive size, 
baskets of potatoes and tomatoes, and a fine assortment of 
native fruit, including the mango and the alligator pear. 
Many of the passengers also carried small bundles of native 
fruit, which they expected to preserve until the end of the 



TllJ^ CITY 01^ NASSAU. 



347 



voyage. Among" these were the sapodilla, the sour sop, the 
tamarind, and grape fruit and oranges galore. Royal 
poinciana heans, bread fruit, twigs from the sea grape bush, 
specimens of "the woman's tongue," and orchids, which 
abound in profusion in Nassau, were among the articles 
the gay party had collected. 

The clouds bore an ominous look as the gang-plank was 
drawn over the deck of the Colonia, but, sheltered in the 




ON THK "coi^onia" p.Kr'nRE the storm. 



harbor as we diad been, it did not occur to us how severe 
a wind storm was then blowing beyond the bar. Senator 
Curtis was the only member of the Congressional party 
who was not with us. He had felt unwell in the morning, 
and had gone to the ship on one of the previous runs. 

Once over the bar we found it was no easy matter to get 
to the Bluecher's side. Indeed, because of the wind and 
the -dangerous reefs, the big ship was now anxiously 
awaiting our return, in order that she might heave anchor 



34^ WITH spi:aki:r cannon through thi: tropics. 

at once for the open sea. The Colonia steamed gamely 
through the heavy waves, but instead of going under the lee 
of the steamer, her captain, because of the weakness, as I 
afterwards learned, of one side of his vessel, concluded to 
take whatever thumping must ensue upon the windward 
side. 

Evidently, our predicament was of interest to the 
Bhiechers passengers, for those who were safely on board 
leaned over the rail and shouted down to us. The great 
leviathan of the sea was holding' fast, but we were now 
dancing about like a cork, in imminent danger of collision. 
Some of the wags above were so amused as to indulge their 
wit at our expense. 

"It serves you right for not coming out with us. The 
sea was smooth then,'' shouted a shrill voice. 

And one with a megaphone would say : ''Whatever you 
do, don't lose the grub." 

But the fun was one-sided ; our own thoughts were on the 
captain and his white mate and that nervous-appearing black 
crew. One of the latter, in the bow of the Colonia, stood 
poised with a coil of small rope in his right hand. He 
wasn't laughing a bit. Presently, the rope was thrown, 
and a sailor on the Bliicchcr caught it. Then the cable was 
hauled up. The men above were trying to hold it, when 
suddenly the Colonia was slammed against the side of the 
big ship with a resounding thump. It was funny to see us 
jump and tumble, and the jokers above laughed. 

Then came another lurch. The cable parted. One end 
flew back within a few inches of jMann's hand. Instantly, 
the Colonia drifted seaward, pitching and tossing like mad. 
The folly of trying to fasten another cable on the windward 
side of the ship was apparent. Captain Reessing shouted 
through his megaphone that he would weigh anchor and 



THE CITY OF NASSAU. 349 

steam slowly out to sea, in order that we might come in 
on the leeward side. This would give us the shelter of the 
Bluechers hull. 

More delay and another detour! And, as the rolling and 
pitching of the tug were growing more violent every minute, 
many of our party were becoming seasick. By degrees the 
jokes were tapering off, and the faces of the jokers were 
lengthening. Perhaps a third of the Colonia party had 
relatives on the ship. To them, it was now clear that our 
position was precarious. Wind and wave increased in 
violence, but after a little the Bluechcr threw her broadside 
to the wind and going at the lowest speed, enabled us to 
come up under her lee. The suction and the Captain's care- 
ful steering kept us hugging the big ship long enough to get 
another cable aboard. 

I looked at Speaker Cannon, and for a moment forgot 
the seriousness of the situation, for at that particular 
juncture the Speaker was entertaining a group of ladies 
with chunks of wisdom and good humor, thus unconsciously 
allaying their fears. About this time, too, Sherman, who 
had been endeavoring to save a bag of grape-fruit, was 
obliged to let it go in order to prevent a sea-sick woman 
falling against the damaged rail. 

With much effort, the Colonia was again brought up 
under the Bluechcr' s lee. A cable was thrown and made 
fast. With great difficulty a ladder was lowered. It bent 
the guard rail of the Colonia and menaced the safety of 
the pilot house, but the ship's agents decided to attempt the 
boarding, and the women nearest the ladder were invited 
to trv first. Assisted by the men, several succeeded, with 
much discomfiture, in reaching the ship. The grinding of 
the small vessel against the big hull, however, threatened 
momentarily to crush the ladder into splinters. The speak- 



350 A\1TH SPEAKliR CANNON THROUGH THI^ TROPICS. 

ing tube from the engine-room also indicated that the engi- 
neer was having trouble below. 

A lady who had been separated from the rest of her 
family had just mounted the ladder, with the assistance of 
a half-dozen men who were holding on to ropes and cables, 
when the excitement overcame her and she fell back fainting'. 
One of the tourist agents instantly grabbed her, at the risk 
of falling over with her between the two boats. The, act 
was courageous, but the rescuer was wrenched internally, 
so that he, too, fell in a faint. This put us in such a fair 
way for a panic that orders were given to cease the attempt 
to board. Just as the command went forth, the third cable 
parted. In an instant we had left the Blucchcrs side and 
were tossing on the waves like a chip of wood. 

"All hands below!" came the command from our captain. 

To most of us this sounded like an order to put ourselves 
in a trap and be drowned like rats, and yet, with 150 men 
and women on the upper deck of a small tender, pitching 
and tossing, we were in danger of careening with all on 
board. 

It was, indeed, a grave question whether the Colonia 
would be able to make the shore. The vessel had been badly 
wrenched in her contact with the Bhicclicr. To make 
matters v/orse, there was a temporary stoppage in the engine 
room. The engineer whistled up to the Captain that a 
steam gauge had broken, and he was about "all in." 

''We're through now," the ca])tain responded. "The last 
cable's gone, and we'll make for Nassau." 

There were thoroughly frightened people now on both 
ships. Realizing the impossibility of our boarding in such 
weather, the Blucchcr blew her whistle and started out to 
sea for a safe anchorage. Alone and disabled and fully 
three miles from shore, we entered upon our battle with the 
waves. It was one not easy to be forgotten, 



the: city ot' NASSAU. 351 

While we were turning, we got into the trough of the 
sea and wallowed frightfully. Fully half the passengers 
became violently sick. 

At the stern of the tug a young fellow was sitting near 
the rail, unlacing his. shoes. He pointed to the shore. 

'It'll be a hard swim," he said, "but the wind is that way 
and I believe I can make it." 

"Do you think we're going to sink?" I asked. 

"I don't know, but I'm getting ready." 

Fifteen, twenty minutes, half an hour we had been diving, 
rolling, leaping. A streaky, ugly twilight was falling. The 
waves roared and hissed on every hand, smacking our frail 
little craft with such dreadful force that it shivered and 
trembled from end to end. 

An ever-increasing wind was whistling in the stays of 
the smoke-stack and actually bending the bare mast. 

And in the midst of it all came the cry: "Man over- 
board !" 

The captain leaned far out of the pilot house and looked 
back. 

"I don't believe it !" he exclaimed. 

But the cry was repeated from astern : "Man overboard !" 

The white mate had been trying to haul in some tackle 
and made a misstep. It seemed but an instant since he had 
fallen, and yet, when we were able to discern him afloat on 
the crest of a wave, he seemed half a mile away. 

What were we to do? The little ship had just, righted 
herself and started for the bar. To return for the mate 
would put us again at the mercy of the heaviest seas. The 
black crew did not look cheerfully upon the task of going 
back. 

"Man the lifeboat!" shouted the captain. Some of the 
crew came forward, but they were scarcely able to hold 



352 WITH spe;aker cannon through thk tropics. 

their footing and seemed in no hurry to get the boat over. 
It was too much Hke suicide. There was a parley at the 
pilot house, and, finally, the captain said, "We'll have to 
go back for him." 

It was a brave thing to do, but in the attempt to rescue 
this one life more than 150 were at stake. 

"Let him go!" exclaimed one of our excited passengers. 
"You have no right to risk all these lives in this fool-hardy 
attempt." 

But the captain was firm. He said the mate was a good 
swimmer and could keep up until we reached him. We had 
thrown over a couple of boxes and a life buoy, and we could 
see these at times lifted to the crest of the waves, but the 
man was making no effort to reach them. 

"Why don't you catch the box," yelled the men on board. 
But the swimmer was treading water and reserving his 
strength. 

It was a desperate thing, this turning about in such a sea, 
and when, at last, the tender was headed for the mate, he 
was probably a mile beyond us. In the pitching that ensued, 
the spray swept over the decks and added to our discom- 
fiture. It was a thrilling quarter-hour, but ultimately we 
reached the unfortunate man, and by careful steering- 
managed to get over to him a line, by which he was lifted 
from the sea. 

The attempt to reach the shelter of Hog Island was now 
resumed. We could see the waves dashing over the bar, 
and trembled lest the steering gear might break, but the 
captain and his crew held out, and about as the shades of 
night were falling we had the satisfaction of pulling up at 
the same wharf we had left in the afternoon. 

As the Speaker came down the gang-plank, moistened 
by the spray of the sea, his cigar maintained its usual eleva- 
tion, and his hands were thrust deep into his pockets. 



the: city 01^ NASSAU. 353 

''The schedule's broken," he said. 

"Yes," said McKinley, "and the question is, what are we 
to do and how are we to hve for the next few days?" 

There we were, 150 men and women, suddenly landed, 
with no provision for our comfort or maintenance. The 
Colonial Hotel was closed; the little hotels of the village 
were simply inadequate to accommodate any such crowd. 

We brought avs^ay the ship's agent, who had been crushed 
in the attempt to board the passengers, and here I may be 
excused for pausing to take a last, but not displeasing, view 
of the Widow. She had been with us, for her inevitable 
custom had been to remain on shore as long as anyone else 
remained. Her delightful Easter finery was sadly mussed 
in our late experience with the waves, but there was no 
physician or nurse to attend the unfortunate man who was 
now upon his back, the result of his gallantry. 

"Poor fellow I" she said, "he must receive attention." 

And for three days and nights she remained in an impro- 
vised hospital, supplying the medicines and ministering 
unto him, so that he might ultimately be returned to the 
ship. It was a pleasant side-light upon one of Mrs. Grundy's 
chief characters. 

For a while we were homeless waifs in Nassau. Nowhere 
to go, nothing to do, we straggled around aimlessly, waiting 
for word from our tourist agents. Presently, one of them 
came back to say that the manager of the Colonial Hotel 
had been found and had agreed to reopen the place, but he 
warned us that the hotel was out of provisions, had dis- 
charged its servants, and was not in a position to give us 
good service. We knew about the Colonial, had admired 
its great beauty earlier in the day, had walked under its 
palm trees, and had bathed in the sunshine of its lovely 
gardens. 

23 



354 WITH spkaki:r cannon through the tropics. 

What if the beds had been torn up and the whole place 
dismantled ? 

"But I actually don't know what I'm going to give you 
to eat/' said the manager. "We did our best to dispose of 
all the provisions we had in stock at luncheon to-day, for, 
of course, we did not want to have a surplus when the hotel 
closed." 

"Oh, for the Governor's dinner!" sighed Mann. 

The suggestion of what we had missed, and needlessly 
missed, if we had only known it, brought forth a storm of 
sighs. Most of us were very hungry, and we had been 
warned not to expect anything to eat before eight o'clock, 
and not to expect much then. 

Night had fallen now, and Mann and I set out to make a 
tour of the town. By the light of torches, for they don't 
have street lamps in Nassau, negresses were selling flap- 
jacks, candy cakes and other sweetmeats. 

"Oh, sweetheart," exclaimed Mann to one mammy who 
was blacker than the night itself, "you have saved my life ! 
Give me one of everything you have in stock." 

The woman chuckled and began to banter Mann. 

"You quit your calling me sweetheart," she said. "I ain't 
your sweetheart!" 

"Woman," I said, addressing her seriously, "what did 
you call this man?" 

" 'Deed, sir," said she, "I didn't call him nothing." 

"You did !" I insisted. "I heard you call him sweetheart, 
and I warn you that you have presumed to address in a 
light and frivolous manner the official objector of the House 
of Representatives of the United States of America." 

I was almost sorry when I saw the effect it produced. 
The little group, at first so gay and lively, was frightened 
instantly. Mann's "sweetheart" looked at him in alarm 



the; city o^ NASSAU. 355 

as he stood munching a flapjack. She protested vehemently 
that she hadn't said a word of any description to him. She 
had been addressing someone else, she said. To prove it, 
she referred to her friends. 

"Did I say anything to this gen'leman, Mary? No, 
indeed! Course I didn't! No indeed, sir, you'se mistaken; 
I wouldn't say nothing levitous to a gen'leman, like that!" 

Simple-minded, fickle, changeable children that they 
were! 

Our candy and flapjacks kept us going until eight o'clock, 
when the manager announced dinner; It consisted largely 
of canned goods that had been left over, but since we were, 
in a sense, beggars, we did not attempt to criticise. 

Of all the nights since the trip began, this was, perhaps, 
the oddest. We had been bereft suddenly of half our party. 
Husbands had been separated from their wives, mothers 
from their children. We were without provisions, except 
as the good manager of the Colonial was endeavoring to 
help us, and had been assigned to rooms where mattresses 
and bolsters were without sheets and shams. A very live 
party we were, stranded in a town that had given up 
business, except for its moderate local purposes. 

''What are you buying, Mrs. Helme?" I said to a Phila- 
delphia lady whom I met in a solitary drug store now 
crowded with the Bluecher's passengers. 

"See for yourself !" was the answer. And there, upon the 
counter, were tooth brushes, soap, brushes and combs, and 
all the other trifles that go with a traveling case. ' 

"But, oh," said another lady, "if the dry-goods stores 
were only open !" 

But the dry-goods stores were not open. Those other 
essentials of a night out and a morning after, in a strange 
city, were not forthcoming. 



356 WITH sp^aki:r cannon through thi: tropics. 

Two things were going on in Nassau that evening — a 
meeting of the Bahaman Parhament, at the Colonial House, 
and "a grand ball" of the Bluecher's passengers, in the 
Colonial. The grand ball was a happy reunion, which we 
later attended, but during a portion of the evening, the 
Speaker, with McKinley, Tawney and others, were visitors 
at the meeting of Parliament. The State House in Nassau 
is an attractive building, and there, in two rows of seats, 
the members of Parliament assembled, all of them, with 
the exception of one or two negro representatives, being 
in full evening dress. About the walls were portraits of 
King Edward, Queen Victoria, Admiral Nelson, and other 
British celebrities. 

Tariff was the subject under discussion. "The Gentle- 
man from Exuma" and "the Gentleman from Andros" 
were frequently recognized by the princely personage in 
the chair. I learned that many of the representatives of 
the other islands in the group lived in Nassau, and had 
merely a nominal residence on the islands which they 
represented. 

It seemed there was a surplus of £7,000 in the treasury 
that was worrying the Parliament much. The gentleman 
from Exuma opined that there was only one thing worse 
than a surplus, and that was a deficiency. He wanted the 
money spent on the "out islands." One of the members, 
in the tariff discussion, appeared to be gently "roasting" 
the Attorney-General, to whom he referred as "the gentle- 
man under that picture," pointing to the portrait of the 
King. 

Before we entered there had been some talk about trade 
relations with the United States, for one member, looking 
toward Speaker Cannon, with a polite and impressive "sir," 
remarked : 



THl]; CITY 01^ NASSAU. 357 

"The United States will adjust its tariff as it likes, when 
it likes. It will do^ this, sir, whether little Nassau does or 
not. We have, however, the assurances of His Excellency, 
President Roosevelt, in the press dispatches, that there will 
be no tariff revision in Washington this year." 

There were also references to Senator Aldrich and other 
factors of the American Government, which . showed that 
the statesmen of Nassau knew what was going on in our 
country. 

"We should protect our industries," said another repre- 
sentative with a fine expanse of white shirt bosom. 

Arriving, as we did, in the middle of the debate, it was 
difficult to keep up with the discussion, but we heard enough 
to convince us that the Parliament of Nassau was, in the 
main, for the protection of Nassau. 

"I am glad," said McKinley dryly, as we were walking 
back to the hotel, "that they didn't legislate the United 
States out of business." 

We had positive orders from the ship's agent to be ready 
to leave Nassau at 6.30 in the morning. The announcement 
was made while it was still April first. When we arose 
from our slumbers, early in the morning, it was not in 
response to the call of the breakfast bell. The shutters 
were slamming and the windows rattling, and the whole 
house was trembling. The early risers ventured out upon 
the piazzas of the hotel to catch, if possible, a glimpse of 
the big ship at sea. The tops of the palm trees were bending 
and twisting and the small boats were rocking furiously 
in the harbor. The roar of the surf beating upon Hog 
Island and over the bar was almost deafening. Those who 
left the building found it unsafe to long remain. They 
could catch no glimpse of the Bluecher. She had left her 
anchorage and gone off to sea. 



358 WITH SPE:AK]eR CANNON THROUGH THE; TROPICS. 

"Where has she gone?" was the query upon every lip. 

It was an odd assemblage that met in the lobby of the 
hotel, awaiting breakfast. Many of the passengers had 
slept in the clothes they wore. Two women were adjusting 
their toilet in the elevator in which I descended. The white 
caps, duck trousers, and white shoes of the men, and the 
thin summer attire of the women seemed now all too 
ridiculous. 

"I have a splendid suit at home," one man would say. 

"Yes," a lady would respond, "in my trunk on the boat 
I have a complete wardrobe." 

"But where has the Bluecher gone ?" was the query, and 
then, parodying the McKinley song, the answer came: 

"She sailed away to New York Bay, 

Across the ocean blue, 
She never said a word to us 

About what she would do ; 
She's left the Speaker and the House — 

The Senator pulled through — 
But every other Mann 
Who was ever worth a 

Said, McKinley, we're with you." 

Olcott complained that his hair was sticky. He couldn't 
understand what was the matter with it. 

"I can," said McKinley. "You've washed it in salt water." 

Then we found that there was nothing but sea-water used 
in the hotel for washing purposes, owing to the scarcity of 
fresh water. 

The men were unshaven, and many of them who had 
failed to connect with a haberdashery wore dirty collars 
and cuffs. Nearly all of them appeared in the white suits 
they had worn ashore from the Bluecher, twenty-four hours 
previously, and they looked out of place, for there was a 
biting chill in the air. 



the: city O^ NASSAU. 359 

A few had sweaters, and Mr. Killen, of Philadelphia, 
was the envy of the party because he had an overcoat. He 
had expected rain. 

With banter and laughter we finished our catch-as-catch- 
can breakfast, and began to make plans for another day on 
the island. We had with us Mr. Romberger, a Philadelphia 
manufacturer, who was addicted to the ko4ak habit. I 
was anxious to know if he had obtained any pictures during 
our experiences on the Colonia. When I asked him, he 
stared at me in surprise and exclaimed, "Well, I guess not !" 

"Did anybody get pictures?" 

"No, sir. It would have taken a brave man to think of 
photography at a time like that." 

Our instructions were not to get too far away from town, 
because the agents thought it probable the Bluecher had 
gone around to a back bay, in which case arrangements 
would be made to drive us across the island, a distance of 
seventeen miles. 

In the morning Governor Wilson called on Speaker 
Cannon, and expressed his regret over our misfortune. 

"It isn't often that Nassau weather behaves like this," he 
said. 

Members of Parliament also dropped in to pay their 
respects. Amongst others was Robert Henry Curry, who 
had been a resident of the United States and who had taken 
a Michigan lady for his wife. Mann, Busbey and I called 
upon Mr. and Mrs. Curry later in the day. Another caller 
waited upon Tawney. It was a coincidence, too, for he was 
a clergyman, the head of the Roman Catholic Church on 
the island. Something about the visitor impressed us, and, 
in the course of our inquiries, we found that, being a native 
of Minnesota, he had sought out the representative of that 
State. Years ago, one of the residents said, the bishop had 



360 WITH SPKAKKR CANNON THROUGH THE TROPICS. 

been shipwrecked off the coast of Nassau and had drifted 
about for a couple of days on the bottom of an up-turned 
boat. He had since devoted himself to missionary work 
in the island, as an evidence of his gratitude to Providence. 

The day had not gone very far before it was announced 
that no attempt would be made to reach the ship until the 
following day. Mann, Busbey and I, therefore, indulged 
in a long drive to the interior of the island. We had 
a typical native negro to drive us. He showed us the 
Catholic and the Wesleyan churches, and the establishment 
of the Church of England. Then we viewed the scenery 
from hilltop and from valley. The great variety of trees 
and the brilliancy of the flowers everywhere delighted us. 

One of the wonders of the forestry of the island was the 
silk-cotton tree, whose roots, if boarded over, would make 
comfortable shacks for native families. "The woman's 
tongue" was another big tree. Its seed developed in a pod, 
which d'ried and rattled in the wind incessantly. Fruit 
trees we found in great numbers, particularly the orange, 
the grape fruit, the sapodilla, and the bread fruit. 

We visited local plantations and picked grape fruit and 
ate it as it came from the bough. It was noticeable, in some 
of the small farms, that sponges were scattered in great 
profusion under the trees. The purpose of this, it was 
explained, was to retain the moisture. Mann was especially 
interested in the fertility of the "soil" of the island. In 
pineapple fields, where labor obtained fifty cents and 
upwards a day, in sisal plantations, where women worked 
at the machines for thirty cents or less a day, drawing out 
the fibers for commercial use, and in cocoanut groves, where 
plants obtained for three pence and set out for fifty cents 
a day "will bear forever," we found no such earth as might 
be easily penetrated by a shovel or a plow; but coral rock, 



the: city O^ NASSAU. 361 

upon which had settled enough coral dust and decayed 
vegetable matter to establish a basis for the growth of 
vegetation. 

"Wonderful!" I said, as I endeavored to drive the blade 
of my knife under the root of a pineapple bush. "Where 
do these tendrils obtain a foothold." 

"They grow in the crevices and in the borings," answered 
Mann. "The three chemical elements essential to good 
soil — nitrogen, potassium and phosphate — all combine on 
this island. You might take an augur and drill a hole into 
this coral rock and plant your seed in the borings. They 
would grow and flourish." 

In many places we found trees with a huge appendage 
resembling a fungus growth, which, upon close inspection, 
proved to be the hills of the ants of the island. Some of 
these immense red monuments were built high on the 
branches and others were constructed upon the ground. 

"Haven't you got something that is worth seeing?" said 
Mann, prodding the negro driver. 

"Yes indeed, sir, yes indeed, sir !" was the excited reply 

"Then let us have it," said the Illinoisian, petulently. 

In a few moments we were enjoying some luscious grape 
fruit, brought to us by a negro woman on a small farm 
which our driver, no doubt, used as a point of vantage. 
Then we were taken to another negro farm, where a woman 
cut down a green cocoanut and cut it open, in order that 
we might drink of the milk. And then our driver showed 
us his chief attraction. It was "the negro village." Perhaps 
Froude had some real basis for his lamentations upon the 
loss of British prestige in the West Indies, for in this negro 
village, cut up into roads, bordered by the most magnificent 
vines and flowers and shaded by luxurious trees borne 
down by the weight of their own fruit, were hundreds and 



362 WITH SPI:AKE:r cannon THROUGH THE) TROPICS. 

hundreds of ^-acre lots that had once been the portion 
of the negroes brought thither by the government. These 
plots of ground, hedged in by stone walls of native con- 
struction, were now overgrown with brush and unattended 
vines. Many of the walls were broken and scattered and 
most of the buildings sunk in decay. 

''And where have the people gone?" I inquired. 

"Da's done gone away. Done better in other places." 

"But can't you show us some live thing?" persisted Mann, 
who was really admiring the grandeur of our surroundings. 

"There's the Congo chief! Would you like to see him?" 

We answered affirmatively, and after a few turns through 
the beautiful lanes of the village, we. were brought through 
a graceful arch of overhanging boughs to the hut of the 
man whom residents of Nassau admitted to have been a 
prince in Congo land. 

The story was that he had been brought over with some 
of his tribe forty or fifty years ago and had attempted to 
lord it over some of the natives without success. He had 
always maintained his independence, however, and even 
now flaunted rough insignia about his hut which indicated' 
that he was the superior of other men. 

He came out to the roadside at the call of our driver, 
bringing with him a strange musical instrument, a few 
twangs upon which were all we could stand. 

While we were inspecting the country round about, the 
Speaker, Sherman, Tawney and Olcott visited a grape-fruit 
farm. A member of Parliament took them out in his 
automobile. The Speaker, who is extravagantly fond of 
grape fruit, made large purchases at prices which he 
considered a bargain, although they did not impress me as 
being so extraordinarily reasonable. I have bought grape 
fruit in Philadelphia for the same money. It was grape 



THE CITY O^ NASSAU. 363 

fruit, I think, that prompted the Speaker, at dinner that 
evening, to dehver himself of a humorous criticism of our 
American expert, Burbank. 

''That man," he exclaimed wrathfully, as his knife struck 
the stone of an alligator pear, "ought to be watched. He 
grafts this thing with that thing until you can't tell a new- 
fashioned watermelon from a modish pumpkin. You order 
canteloupe, and you get squash. I wish he'd let the Lord 
look after the fruit and vegetables." 

We were amused to read, that evening, accounts of our 
visit in the Nassau papers, the Tribune and the Guardiam. 
The Tribune, without comment, contented itself with 
remarking that a party of American tourists ''were in town 
for a few days." The Tribune was a paper which declared 
itself independent, even in a Crown Colony, by placing at 
its masthead the motto, "Being bound to swear to the 
dogmas of no master." 

The Guardian was a little more enterprising. It got out 
an extra edition of a single sheet, very much like the famous 
wallpaper editions published by the Vicksburg newspapers 
during the siege. It contained a thrilling story of the plight 
of the passengers, including a communication from one of 
the latter, which declared it "to be remarkable how well the 
officers behaved, the ladies in particular being calm and 
courageous." 

In the evening, Colonel Fred Smith and his wife, of 
Peoria, Illinois, came in for a share of the badinage of the 
company. The Colonel had arranged on shipboard to enter- 
tain a number of his friends, including the Congressmen, in 
honor of his wife's birthday. We did our best to induce 
him to carry out the arrangement. Since the Bluecher 
was not available, however, the stranded passengers made 
the most of it in the hotel. ^ 



364 WITH SPE;AKE:r cannon THROUGH THE) TROPICS. 

They were now told to be prepared to leave at 6.30 on 
the morning of the third day. The Bluecher had been 
sighted, and while the waves were still dashing over the bar 
and mounting tO' a height of eighty-five feet against the 
Hog Island light, the wind was abating. 

Amusing bulletins began to appear as the result of the 
announcement. "Superfluous clothing may be deposited in 
the safe at the office," read one. Another, ''The price of 
tooth brushes has advanced 2s. 6d. ;" and then, in quick 
succession, "The new and popular song, 'Rocked in the 
Cradle of the Deep,' may be purchased in any of the depart- 
ment stores;" "And the ship came back;" "Shawls, sweaters 
and pajamas are being wholesaled at more than retail 
prices." 

Before the evening was over the songsters broke loose, 
and "Waiting at the Church" was parodyed into "Waiting 
at the Surf." This parody upon "The Bowery" also made 
its appearance : 

I wandered afar on the tropical seas, 
A-riding the billows and sniffing the breeze ; 
A-seeing the sights in the beautiful isles 
Where natives receive you with coppery smiles — 
I saw the sad ruins of old Saint Pierre 
And Pelee a-smoking way up in the air ; 
I liked Martinique, but I couldn't stay there, 
Those divers, they drove me away. 

Chorus. 

The divers, the divers; 

They did such things, 

And they said such things ; 
The divers, the divers, 

I'll never go there any more. 

N 



THE CITY OF NASSAU. 365 

I slept in the Palace of Castro, the great, 

And quelled a rebellion or two in his State; 

I dined 'neath the shade of the "old bamboo tree," 

And climbed up the mountains far over the sea; 

I left Port Cabello to see Panama 

But when I reached Colon the weather was raw 

For Gorgas, the angel, was also the law, 

And I wouldn't go there any more. 

Chorus. 
At Colon, at Colon; 

They did such things, 

And they said such things. 
At Colon, at Colon, 

ril never go there any more. 

I turned me about for a pleasanter scene. 
Where tourists may go and not find quarantine, 
And after a stop at old Swettenham's town, 
I looked up Magoon and he showed me around. 
I thought the Bahamas would wind up the trip. 
So sailed up to Nassau a pretty good clip; 
But "there's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip," 
And ril never go there any more. 

Chorus. 
At Nassau, at Nassau; 

They did such things, 

And they said such things. 
At Nassau, at Nassau, 

ril never go there any more. 

One of the afternoon bulletins announced that no one 
would be admitted to a dance to be held later in the evening 
unless attired "in evening dress." This was where the barber 
got in his work, for we discovered, at the close of the second 
day, that an Atlantic City barber, who works in the P'lagler 
hotels in winter, had been discovered on the island, unable 



366 WITH SPI:AKE:R cannon THROUGH THI) TROPICS. 

to reach Miami, and had been pressed into the service. 
Young Hubert Somers, of Atlantic City, had left the chair 
as I entered it. The barber told me what a nice young 
man Mr. Somers was, and added that he was clever, having 
just been married and being upon his bridal tour. I was 
surprised at this, for Mr. and Mrs. Somers had appeared 
to have been long married, and were so impressing all their 
new-found friends. 

"But they're on their honeymoon," said the barber, ''and 
since there isn't another dress suit on the island, I have 
loaned him mine for this evening's dance." 

''You have?" said I. "Well, that's enough!" 

A little later Somers appeared in his new regalia. The 
crowd had been properly tipped off, and as the one proud 
and properly-dressed man came marching into the hall with 
his bride, the tune of "Mendelssohn's Wedding March^' 
gave them a complete shock. 

Some of us killed the remainder of that night at Nassau's 
swell social organization, "The Club," as the guests of 
Mr. Curry, M.P. 

April 3d, the third day of our marooning, found us in the 
same old clothes, scrambling for breakfast. The ladies, by 
this time, had found stores which enabled them to make a 
change of garments, but many of the men were still 
unshaven and unkempt. It was a jolly crowd, however, 
except for those who were still wondering about the safety 
of their relatives on the ship. 

Mann and I visited the sponge fleet and inspected the 
markets, observing the cleaning and cutting of sponges and 
the shipment and sale of fish. We visited the Queen's 
Staircase, one of the show places of Nassau, where the 
steps are hewn out of solid rock, and inspected the old 
fortifications above. The extreme excitability of the negro 



the: city 01^ NASSAU. 367 

character was demonstrated at the Queen's Staircase, when 
a woman at the top, to whom we had refused coin after 
tossing pennies to her children, threw rocks down at our 
black guide, who had reproved her. The words which flew 
from above and below were amusing enough, but totally 
harmless and unnecessary. The guide was particularly 
careful that our lives and integrity should be preserved, 
and the woman was prepared to battle with him in true 
Billingsgate fashion. They were both at such a safe distance 
that from laughing we tired of the quarrel, and finally, by 
sheer force, pulled the guide from the steps and dragged 
him back to his seat in the carriage. 

In the afternoon we learned that the Blnecher had been 
located. She had sailed 17 miles around the island and had 
anchored under its lee. Schmolck, a tourist agent, and Dr. 
Hough had found an automobile earlier in the day and 
made a cross-country run to the ship. The latter having 
decided to remain upon the ship, Schmolck and the chauffeur 
brought back an armload of bundles and messages, including 
a box of cigars for the Speaker, forwarded by Senator 
Curtis. 

When, like so many Christmas presents, the packages 
were being distributed, some curious incidents developed. 
One anxious wife had sent her raincoat to her husband. 
Many of the women also received packages which would 
have been mighty useful had they been received on the first 
evening. 

The time for departure had now come. It was arranged 
that the Colonia, which was still the only vessel available 
for the purpose, should take her precious cargo round the 
harbor to the point already reached by the Bluecher. The 
start was to be made at 5.30 on the morning of the fourth 
day. Every negro who had been making money driving 



368 WITH SPE:AKE:r cannon THROUGH THI^ TROPICS. 

tourists about the island during the winter season was at 
the landing place to meet us. It seemed that every hack 
and bus in town was out, expecting a great day's work. 
The reason was soon explained... The negroes were con- 
fident the storm would not abate, and that the Colonia could 
not make the trip. They passed around the word that no 
passenger would be carried across the island in their coaches 
for less than $7. They proposed to make this their holiday, 
but they counted without their host. The first of April was 
over. 

The Colonia had been trimmed up somewhat, but many 
of the passengers hesitated to again embark. They were 
finally gotten together, however, and the voyage began. 
The lower deck was still largely taken up with the cargo of 
provisions, including the live fowl, the fish and the turtles. 
Some of the fowls were sufficiently game to amuse a few 
of the passengers when the trip became tedious. 

We passed over the beautiful sea-gardens, noting, as 
we went, the delightful clarity of the water, and after hours 
of careful sailing at last sighted the ship we had lost. A 
hasty collection for our gallant captain and his crew was 
cheerfully contributed. We found anchored nearby the 
Bluecher two large sailing vessels, both disabled and hold- 
ing fast to this place of shelter, showing that others had 
suffered the effects of the great storm. 

As we approached the ship, the anxious passengers 
crowded to the rail, then the band began to play, and a more 
cheerful home-coming, perhaps, could not well be conceived. 
Shouts and cheers went up from both vessels. ''In One 
Brief Year I'll Have Served My Time," a Russian folk-lore 
song, happened to be the band's selection for the occasion. 

We were reunited ; families dissevered for four long 
days under circumstances novel enough for the romancer, 




MAROONED PASSENGERS RETURNING TO SHIP, NASSAU. 



24 



THE CITY O^ NASSAU. 371 

were coming together. The raising of the gang-plank over 
the now smooth and placid waters was the signal for a 
great cheer. Then, one by one, the passengers felt their 
way across, to receive, on the firm deck of the great ship, 
the hugs and hand-grasps of their relatives and friends. 
It was a time for hugging, kissing and crying, and some 
of the women fairly danced with joy. They frankly 
admitted that they had been unaware of our fate until the 
arrival of the messages earlier in the day. Many had been 
seasick, and this only added to their sense of distress. 

We found Dr. White, the former German Ambassador, 
very much improved in health. He shook hands with the 
Speaker and started in at once to swap experiences. 

A dash was made for the staterooms, and particularly for 
the bath, and at dinner that evening there was such an 
assemblage of hungry and nerve-wrought people as the 
Bluecher had never seen before. 

Dr. Tiffany, of New York, was telling me of some of the 
incidents on shipboard and of the frequent anxious con- 
ferences with the Captain. They were in great doubt as 
to the abatement of the storm. 

''Finally, I remarked to the Captain," laughed the 
clergyman, ''that I was afraid we might have to hold another 
Sunday service on board." 

"O," said the Captain, hopefully, "it's not so bad as dot !" 



CHAPTER XIV. 

HOMEWARD BOUND. 

Song of the Statesmen — Reflections of Nassau — A Progressive Din- 
ner — The Speaker as a Matchmaker — A Sudden Stop — Bark in 
Distress — Rescue of the Crew — Burned at Sea — Our Own Escape 
— Tribute to McKinley — Preparing for Inspection — The Problem 
of the Stewards — Discussion of Forest Reservations — Tawney on 
Federal Retrenchment — Development of the Special Agent — 
Facing the Reporters — The Five Million Conspiracy. 

I. 

On March the fifth, we started out, to cross the Spanish Main; 
And now sun-burnt, three hundred strong, we're sailing back again. 
We have the finest men aboard, the fairest women, too — 
And that great man who knows it all, the mighty Dooley-oo. 

Chorus. 

Oh, Mister Dooley, — Oh, Mister Dooley, 
The greatest man the country ever knew. 

Is Mister Dooley, is Mister Dooley, 
Is Mister Doole3^,-ooley,-ooley, oo ! 

II. 

We have upon the ship, a man whose name is Mister Mann, 
He comes from swift Chicago-town, the second in the land: 
He is a man of influence, as you at once suspect, 
For every time you rise to speak, he rises to object. 

Chorus. 

Does Mister May-van ; does Mister May-yan, 

The wisest Mann Chicago ever know. 
Is Mister May-3^an, is Mister May-yan, 

Is Mister May-}^an,-ay-yan,-ay-yan, oo ! 

372 



HOMEWARD BOUND. 375 

HI. 

Of gallant stature is the man from Hudson, nigh to Penn, 
Who's seen upon the deck a-promenading now and then, 
He speaks in dulcet tones about the commerce in the docks, 
And shows how Congressmen appear in good old knickerbocks. 

Chorus. 
Oh, Mister Olcott; Oh, Mister Olcott, 

The rarest man the country ever knew, 
Is Mister Olcott; is Mister Olcott, 

Is Mister Olcott, Olcott, Olcott, oo ! 

IV. 
And there is one named Tawney, from the great Northwest he comes, 
The music of his voice would far excel ten thousand drums. 
Ten hundred millions at his back to make the coimtry go. 
Throughout the land, he beats the band, for good old "Uncle Joe." 

Chorus. 
Oh, Mister Tawney, — oh, Mister Tawney, 

The richest man the country ever knew, 
At home its Tawney ; Carac-as Jawney, 

Oh, Mister Tawney, Jawney,-awney, oo ! 

V. 

And there is Mister Sherman, he, who hails from New York State, 
So full of wit and wisdom, when he speaks the masts vibrate, 
Whenever he. puts on his togs and comes upon the floor. 
The people rush from fore and aft, and loudly call for Moore. 

Chorus. 
Oh, Mister Sherman, — Oh, Mister Sherman, 

The finest man that New York ever knew, 
Is Mister Sherman, — is Mister Sherman, 

Is Mister Sherman,-erman,-erman, oo ! 

VI. 

A Kansas statesman next we see, from out the "Bounding West," 
He knows how many knots we make, but loves his pine-knots best, 
He left the House and Speaker, too, to go — the Lord knows where. 
They say the Senate's higher up, but isn't that hot air? 



376 WITH SPE:aKI:r cannon THROUGH THE^ TROPICS. 

Chorus. 
Oh, Mister Curtis, — oh, Mister Curtis, 

The best that "Bleeding Kansas" ever knew, 
Is Mister Curtis, is Mister Curtis, 

Is Mister Curtis,-urtis,-urtis, 00! 

VII. 

A modest man is somewhat round, at least, so we have heard. 
Who, tho' he hails from Illinois, will never say a word : 
When he is tested, we are told, he shows up good and game. 
And like the gay and festive bug, he "gets there just the same." 

Chorus. 
Mister McKinley, Mister McKinley, 

Most modest man the country ever knew. 
Mister McKinley, Mister McKinley, 

Mister McKinley,-inley,-inley, 00 ! 

VIII. 

A passenger of great renown is known as "Uncle Joe," 

He knows his country like a book, and says it isn't slow. 

The men they greet him with respect. The ladies, bless them ! how 

They drive away the cares of State that wrinkle up his brow. 

Chorus. 
Oh, Mister Speaker; oh, Mister Speaker, 

The grandest man the country ever knew. 
Is Mister Speaker, is Mister Speaker, 

Is Mister Speaker,-eker,-eker, 00 ! 

IX. 

And now perchance we've reached the point, where it is really due, 
To say a word about the good ship, "Bluecher," and her crew. 
The gallant Captain and his men have labored at the oar. 
And there will be sincere regret when we must step ashore. 

Chorus. 
Oh, Captain Reessing ; oh, Captain Reessing, 

Who sails the Bluecher, and his faithful crew, 
He is blessing, is Captain Reessing, 

Is Reessing and his crewle,-oole,-oo ! 



home:ward bound. 377 

''Dear old Nassau — one never goes without wanting to go 
again — one never leaves without regret." 

As we completed the circuit of the beautiful capital island 
of the Bahamas, recalling the songs and improvisations that 
had enlivened our enforced isolation, the nasal twang of our 
friend of the Nutmeg State resounded in my ears. Close to 
sundown we were passing the stately white t^uilding which 
had sheltered us for three nights while the B hie c her stood 
far out at sea. A more beautiful sunset could not well be 
imagined. It flashed back its light upon the Colonial, which 
now, miles away, seemed sinking gradually into the sea. The 
tempest round Hog Island light had spent its force. As the 
island disappeared and darkness peacefully settled about our 
ship, we wondered what the row had been about. The 
''kicker" from Brooklyn, who said he would "rather be a 
lamp-post in that city than the whole show in any other 
place," contended that we should not have been kept at the 
Colonial at all, but should have been carted across country 
on the first day. The bearded pard from the West, whose 
shirt was stuffed in front to keep his back straight, insisted 
that the wireless telegraph was not used and that we were 
unnecessarily detained on the island, but the gallant Mann, 
of Chicago, smoothed it all over by insisting that we had got 
the best of the steamship company by exacting a three days' 
stop at a ten-dollar-a-day-hotel at one of the loveliest re- 
sorts in the world. 

"I wouldn't have cared," said the imperturbable inter- 
rupter, "if we had remained at Nassau on these terms all 
summer. See, by the original schedule we were due in New 
York last Tuesday; we will not arrive (Lord wilHng) until 
next Sunday ; five days added to a trip of twenty-eight at no 
additional cost. What more do you want?" 

That night (it was Thursday, April 4th) the Smiths gave 



378 WITH spkake;r cannon through the tropics. 

their party. It was the same party that was to have been 
given when the sea divided us. The Smiths were from 
IlHnois, and the Speaker and McKinley, with true Ilhnoisian 
pride, attended. 

" 'This is the way I long have sought and mourned be- 
cause I found it not/ " said Mr. Cannon, as Colonel 
Fred induced him to open up the festivities. It was a 
Western party, conducted in progressive Western style, and 
Sherman, Tawney, Mann, Olcott and others, twenty-four 
ladies and gentlemen, moved from table to table as the din- 
ner courses were served. 

We had been together thirty days and we were going to 
separate. The trip had not been without its adventures and 
its romances. This was a last chance to jollify. 

"I am deaf and dumb; please write your message," was 
written on a card by a member of the Congressional party 
as talk drifted to the attachment of the gentleman from 
Trenton for the lady from South Carolina. 

"Give me thirty dollars for a man who has no arms," 
wrote another member, as the attachment grew closer. 

"If it were a woman, she could have mine free gratis," put 
in a third wag. 

Whether it was the Smith party which brought it all 
about I do not know, but very shortly thereafter the an- 
nouncement was made that New Jersey, represented by Mr. 
Gummere, and South Carolina, represented by Mrs. 
Symonds, had agreed to come permanently together, a con- 
summation which at once established the right of Speaker 
Cannon to travel in the same class as a matchmaker with 
the Honorable Secretary of War. 

The next morning we were rolling along smoothly below 
the Gulf Stream, sixty miles off the coast of Florida. The 
sea was placid as the proverbial calm after the storm, but 



HOMEWARD BOUND, 379 

the day of adventure was not yet over. We had scarce 
been called to breakfast when the ship slowed up perceptibly 
and the movement of feet upon the upper deck betokened 
''something doing." In a moment the great breakfast- 
room was empty. A mile ahead, on the port side, was a 
speck in the sea which, as we approached it, developed into 
a bark with main and top-sails flapping sadly against the 
spars. At the masthead was a signal of distress. The low, 
rolling swell of the sea tossed the unfortunate vessel from 
side to side, and the length of time it took to recover her 
balance showed that she was water-logged and helpless. 
The crew assembled on deck as we drew near and looked 
the part of shipwrecked mariners. The big ship stopped, 
but the men on the bark had neither the strength nor the 
disposition to make a demonstration. Their captain asked 
for aid. He said his bark was sinking and he desired that 
the crew be taken off. This was the opportunity of the 
searchers for novelty. Dozens of kodaks were at once 
levelled against the woozy craft. 

''The thrills are coming a-plenty," was the running com- 
ment along the Bhwcher's side, but they were still to come. 
Under orders from our Captain, the first officer of the 
Bluecher immediately lowered one of the boats and started 
off with a crew to the rescue. As the yawl skimmed the 
surface of the sea and made fast to the side of the bark, the 
unhappy crew was awakened to the situation. Bundles 
containing the personal effects of the men were brought 
forward, and then came a parley. Was there any infection 
on board the bark? The captain produced her bill of 
health, and our first officer inspected it. There was more 
speaking between the vessels ; then the boat of the Bluecher 
started to return. It had proceeded but a few strokes when 
a streak of flame flashed amidships, followed by a rolling 
cloud of smoke. 



380 WITH spe:aki:r cannon through the: tropics. 

"Look! the bark's afire! Do they intend to destroy her?" 

''Yes," said Mann, ''we couldn't tow a water-logged bark. 
To abandon her as she is would leave a dangerous derelict 
in the pathway of navigation. She must be burned. It is 
a rule of the sea." 

Meanwhile we were trying to discern the name on the 
stern of the bark. It finally spelled out "Gulfport- 
Kristiania." 

"She's a Norwegian," said a man with marine glasses; 
"but we'll soon have the story, for here come the crew." 

The Gulf port's yawl was now swinging round the stern 
of the bark. The captain, one Larsen, and eleven men, with 
all their belongings, were at the oars. The crew of the 
Bhiecher's yawl was the first to reach the ship, and the boat 
was quickly drawn up to the davits ; then the rescuing crew 
dropped the ladder for the bark's crew. As the bedraggled 
men and their crestfallen captain climbed over the guard-rail 
they were cheered by the passengers. In a jiffy they were 
hustled to the forecastle mess-room and fed. Then they 
were told to clean up and sleep. Immediately after the 
landing, their yawl was cut loose to take its chances on the 
sea. It was not such a derelict as might endanger naviga- 
tion and it might yet prove serviceable to some shipwrecked 
sailor, the oars being sent with it. The bark, soon a half- 
mile astern, was a picture in itself. A ship afire at sea is a 
sight that holds. 

"Ladies," said Speaker Cannon, to a party that assembled 
to watch the fire, "you have seen most everything that goes 
with the sailor's life, but the next time you meet a wreck like 
this you should have it at night, when the fire can be appre- 
ciated." 

"Yes," said Mann, assuming again the role of the kicker, 
"we might have waited until we could see this fire out." 



I. 


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4 . 


i 






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K 


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1 
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HOMEWARD BOUND. 383 

But we were steaming away too rapidly to know whether 
the Gidfport sank or not. The fire was spreading; we 
saw it creep into the rigging and flash out against the sky. 
In a quarter of an hour we were so far to the northward 
that the Gidfport and her column of smoke were left but a 
speck on the vast expanse beyond. The story of the ship- 
wrecked crew was quickly told. It taught us the value of 
patience, particularly as some of the passengers were in- 
clined to complain of the delay at Nassau. 

The Giilfport was loaded with barrel-staves. She had 
started from Mobile, Alabama, for Norway, and had been 
caught in a terrific storm off Cape Hatteras on the previous 
Monday. This was the day the storm struck us at Nassau. 
In weathering the storm the vessel had sprung a leak. For 
three days and three nights the men had been at the pumps, 
also using their windlass, but they were unable to keep the 
water out. On the morning of the rescue, thoroughly ex- 
hausted, they had determined to take to the small boats, and 
had gotten their effects ready. They were drifting with the 
hope that before the bark went down they might draw nearer 
to the pathway of vessels from Nassau. 

The burning of the Gidfport and the rescue of her crew 
provided a topic for most of the day's discussion. Miss 
Bassett undertook the commendable work of raising a fund 
for the crew. This was presented by Mr. Falls, of New 
York, when the men were gotten in presentable shape. 

''I guess," said Sherman, as he sized up the wretched 
sailors, that if we had left Nassau on Monday, as we ex- 
pected to do, we might have shared their lot. It's an ill 
wind that blows nobody good." 

It was getting colder as we proceeded north, and, one by 
one, the passengers laid away their duck trousers, their 
white shoes and other summer attire. The ship's grand ball 



384 WITH SPi^AKK^R CANNON THROUGH THE) TROPICS. 

was announced for the evening. The decorations were bril- 
Hant and the starboard side of the ship was beautifully 
lighted. Flags of all nations encircled the improvised walls 
of the ball-room. The captain made a short speech on be- 
half of his company; the ladies danced and a merry time 
ensued, but at nine o'clock was unfolded the piece de resist- 
ance, and the hero was ''the little Napoleon" of the Illinois 
delegation, our host, Mr. McKinley. No announcement had 
been made, and yet at nine o'clock, when Speaker Cannon 
led McKinley into the dining hall, where an American flag 
concealed a great silver punchbowl, decorated in relief and 
handsomely engraved, there was a crowded attendance of 
brilliantly attired ladies and gentlemen. The galleries 
quickly filled. Innocent as the proverbial lambkin, Mc- 
Kinley stood smirking and smiling with the rest, wondering 
what was to happen. At the proper moment Sherman 
stepped forward, and in a low, melodious voice, with a 
finger leveled at the Illinois Congressman, began : 

"I am looking right at you. I have something to say. 
For thirty days we, members of Congress, have been your 
guests. You have endeared yourself to us all and have 
widened the sphere of hospitable possibilities. You are 
strong in the State of Illinois ; you have large interests there 
which you guard with jealous concern; but all that passes 
from us as we regard you, our host. Your modesty does 
not prevent us saying these things to you. You have 
brought with you the Speaker of the House of Representa- 
tives, the religious and melodious Tawney, the yielding and 
submissive Mann, the reserved and silent Moore, the volu- 
ble, loquacious Senator, the astute and stately Olcott ; count 
them what you will, you are the ideal of them all. We have 
procured for you as a token of our regard this memento — on 
one side the inscription which evidences our affection, on 



HOMmVARD BOUND. 385 

the other the oiitUnes of this great ship on which we have 
had such good times together. This bowl was procured 
before saihng, but it was shipped to Havana, where we 
received it in order that it might be handed you before we 
should say good-bye. We propose to fill it and to invite you 
and all our associates upon this ship to drink with you as 
friends." 

I do not know whether McKinley thrilled as some of the 
audience did, but he looked a little surprised. McKinley 
does not boast of eloquence, but sometimes, as in this in- 
stance, the truest eloquence is that which comes welling up 
from the heart and is spoken without design. 

"Mr. Sherman," he drawled out slowly, "in 3^our quiet 
way you have said some very nice things. I believed I was 
getting the right guests for this trip, and I know I have 
made no mistake." 

"But drink, drink !" came from the audience. 

The great bowl was seized by the little statesman, who 
now began to take in the humorous side of the situation, and, 
glancing at the ladies in the gallery, he said : 

"Won't it be nice to bathe the baby in!" 

What now ensued was the inevitable. It was "For He's 
a Jolly Good Fellow." But that was not sufficient. Mr. 
Tawney must sing. 

"No," said Tawney. "Sherman's the man." 

"I'll sing if you do," said Sherman. 

Then they came together and Sherman, in fine voice, 
caught the crowd Avith "It Was My Last Cigar." 

Now, give them "Uncle Joe," he said, and Tawney, taking 
the cue and following the air of the last song, delivered the 
Sibley production which all Washington knows so well. As 
this versification was the tribute of "Uncle Joe" Sibley, of 
Pennsylvania, to the esteemed "Uncle Joe" Cannon, of 

25 



386 WITH SPEAKER CANNON THROUGH THE TROPICS. 

Illinois, I tried hard to memorize it, but I can recall the 
chorus only. It ran like this : 

"Our good old Uncle Joe, 
Our dear old Uncle Joe, 
Search high or low. 
The stars — below : 
There's none like Uncle Joe.'' 

Preparations for landing were now under way. What a 
lot of clothing and merchandise had accumulated ! And we 
could take ashore only one hundred dollars worth of pur- 
chases — and of cigars only fifty. There were those "Romeos 
and Juliets'' we had picked up in Havana and a "special" 
with the compliments of Governor Magoon — they had to 
be sorted down and divided until we got the number within 
the requirements of our own laws, of course ! That extra 
fifty in my trunk belonged to Loudenslager ; so they were 
accounted for ; but why should we worry over the packing ! 
Think of the Widow, with her bonnets and band-boxes ! 
Think of the newly-weds and the confessedly rich ! O, 
what trouble is in this world of vanity ! 

Trunks above and trunks below. We, plain, blunt men, 
had wondered where the millinery came from, but now it 
was all clear. 

And the stewards staggered under the load. They 
brought more trunks from the hold than would fill a modern 
storage-house. 

But the stewards ! Ah, I had most forgot ! See the ex- 
perienced young "gent" who had "traveled some, you 
know!" He had been figuring it all out. Always tipped 
the room steward and the bath-room steward and the 
stewardess. And there was the bootblack steward and the 
whitewash steward and the two table stewards and the head 



HOMEWARD BOUND. 387 

steward. And the purser and the laundress, and the grill- 
room steward, and the several stewards in the cafe. And 
the deck steward, the bouillon steward and the stationery 
steward and the leader of the band. The steward who 
sounded the breakfast bugle and the steward who put you 
to sleep. 

"Ah !" said the gushing young sport, "they were all 
deucedly clever. I must take care of them all, don't you 
know !" 

"Don't get nothin' out o' me," growled the knowing 
German-American. "I've been across before!" 

"Say, Eversman,'' I said, as our host's genial Secretary 
came scurrying down the line, "what shall we do about this 
steward business?" 

''Do nothing," he said, exhibiting a bundle that looked 
like thirty thousand dollars, "it's all attended to — Mr. Mc- 
Kinley's compliments." 

''My trunk is all ready for inspection," said Speaker Can- 
non early Saturday morning. "Got a new tortoise-shell 
comb and some cigars, but I've lost a collar-button.'' 

Several of us immediately ofifered our services, and were 
surprised, when the missing article was found, to observe 
the Speaker give "a gallant hitch" to his necktie. Then he 
started out to meet some Boston ladies, and Mrs. Grundy 
informed us the interview had to do with forestry reserva- 
tions. At any rate, on his return I endeavored to engage 
the Speaker in conversation on this subject. He had been 
accused of o])posing national forest reserves, and he told 
me the reason : It seems that many of the States, apart 
from sacrificing their privileges, are endeavoring to unload 
their burdens upon the national government. Of course, 
we want to protect our forests, the Speaker suggested, but 
why don't the States take care of their own. If the Federal 



388 WITH SPKAKKR CANNON THROUGH THi: TROPICS. 

Government opens up reserves in a few States, why not in 
all States ? And then where does your State authority 
come in ? We are already laying upon the National Gov- 
ernment burdens that the States should carry. We must 
draw the line somewhere. 

It was a delicate subject, for it involved the general ques- 
tion of the centralization of power in the Federal Govern- 
ment, but the Speaker, as the chief guardian of the financial 
interests of the country, was looking at it partly from the 
viewpoint of federal receipts and expenditures. He used 
the word "unload," saying that whenever the States sur- 
rendered to the Federal Government the privileges and re- 
sponsibilities rightfully belonging to them, they were making 
what seemed to him an unwise, if not unfair, surrender. 

At this juncture Tawney came forward with a hearty en- 
dorsement of the Speaker's statement. He had been -figur- 
ing a little more than a month previously on the way to make 
"both ends meet" in the receipts and expenditures of the 
United States. 

He had been wrestling with the financial problems put up 
to the Federal Government by the representatives of various 
States, who were seeking from Congress appropriations 
bearing directly upon State interests and had some ideas of 
his own. 

Tawney unsuccessfully opposed an appropriation to the 
Geological Survey for the gauging of streams, the free 
testing ~of building materials and the heat units of coal, all 
upon the ground that they were for the benefit of local or 
private interests and not for the general governmental 
Welfare. 

"The State of Maryland," he said, "has practically sur- 
rendered to the Federal Government the sovereignty over 
her oyster beds, in order that the State may be relieved of 



IIOMKAVARD BOUND. 389 

the expense of certain snrveys ; the Federal Government 
has taken 'over the inspection of private mannfaciuring 
estahhshments ; the inspection of cattle ; of meats, and of all 
agricultnral products ; the investigation of soils in which 
the Federal Government has no interest, and the care and 
disposition of timber on State lands set aside 1)y the States 
as forest reserves. Then, again, the Government is making- 
topographic and geological surveys of States in which it 
does not own a foot of unoccupied mineral or agricultural 
land. It makes topographic surveys of cities and counties, 
primarily for the benefit of numicipalities, private owners of 
water works and interurban and other electric railways. 
y\ll these and many other similar undertakings, which are 
l)eing saddled ui)on the government and for which the Gov- 
ernment must raise revenue to pay, belong exclusively to 
the States or to private interests. It would seem in some of 
tliese matters at least that Cc^ngress, in making appropria- 
tions for such purposes, is gradually exceeding the legitimate 
"functions of the Federal Government as conceived by the 
founders of our country." 

Mr. Tawney had another line of thought which he did not 
hesitate to exploit. It related to the growth of Federal 
supervision and control over what he termed the "local 
affairs" of the ])eo])]e at the solicitation of, or with the sug- 
gestion of the States, in the matter of special agents and 
inspection service. 

"In 1896," he said, "the inspectors and special, agents, in- 
cluding those employed in the Treasury, the Post-office and 
the Interior Departments, where that service is legitimately 
employed in protecting the revenue, the mails and the public 
domain, numbered all told one hundred and sixty, and the 
service cost the government that year in round numbers 
v$i, 300,000. In 1907 we are employing an army of three 



390 VVI'L'IJ. SIMvAKKR cannon 'i'ilROUCli I'llJi 'i^RoriCS. 

full regiments of inspectors and special agents — three 
thousand men — and this service is now costing the American 
people about $9,000,000. The number of men employed in 
this special service in 1907 is eighteen times greater than in 
1896, and the cost has increased about seven hundred per 
cent." 

Lest he be misunderstood, ]\Ir. Tawney continued : 

"I do not plead for State's rights. I plead for the right 
and the duty of the Federal Government to protect itself 
and its treasury against the encroachments of the States 
and private interests upon its powers, its duties and its 
revenues." 

By noon Saturday we were off Cape Hatteras, the point 
most feared along the Atlantic Coast by stomachy sailors, 
A heavy wind was blowing and the rain drove its chilly 
course along the decks. We had come upon the "heeltaps" 
of the great storm that had done so niuch damage along the 
coast. The "farewell dinner" on behalf of the Captain and 
his company was given that evening. The temperature* 
was cooling oft* and dress-suits were in no wise uncomfort- 
able. The tables were surrounded by a jovial party, many of 
them regretful that the long trip was drawing to a close. 
Again the Si)eaker was called to say a few parting words. 
Good-naturedly he responded, praising the Captain, the ship 
and the company. 

"A memorable voyage," he said, "full of incident and full 
of pleasure. You have l)een under many Hags and have seen 
nuich that was new and novel to you, but you are coming 
back to your own country, the most prosperous country on 
God's footstool." 

Was it all over ! Not yet ! We were to meet the cus- 
toms' inspectors in New York in the morning, and so far as 
the Congressional party was concerned, there was something 



IIOMKWARl) BOUr^J). 391 

else in store. We had witnessed the destruction at Mi. 
Pelee, the devastation by earthquake at Kingston ; we had 
been marooned at Nassau and had rescued the crew of a 
disabled bark ; we had gone through the rigors of a tropical 
climate, had suffered the mental pangs of a quarantine at 
Panama ; had ridden the perilous roads of Venezuela, and 
now, bronzed by the sun, and again decked out in the ordi- 
nary winter costume of American citizens, were about to 
land in ''God's country." We sighted Sandy Hook, were 
boarded by the quarantine officers and found, climbing over 
the rail from a revenue cutter which bore the customs' offi- 
cers, the familiar faces of four of our Congressional col- 
leagues. There was Calder, whom we had last seen mega- 
phoning his farewell from the tug of the letter-carriers ; 
our Brooklyn colleague, Waldo, who had been looking after 
the deeper channel of New York harbor ; Bennet, whose 
inquiries into the immigration problem were making him 
an authority; and the redoubtable "Lit" — Lucius N. 
Littauer, who was to have been one of the IMcKinley party, 
but whose vast business interests kept him in New York 
State. Our colleagues, with the view of obtaining for us 
every possible courtesy, had left the battery at 6.30 in the 
niorning to meet us at quarantine. We were again in 
America and in the hands of our friends. 

But what mighty upheaval had stirred the ])eople and 
caused a hush to fall upon the party at the very threshold 
of "Home, Sweet Honie." Had we not sufficient of muti- 
nies and insurrections ? Why, then, should we now be con- 
fronted by the "Five iVlillion Dollar Conspiracy" which was 
involving the President, the great railroad manipulator of 
the country, and a distinguished Senator of the United 
States ? 

"Will the Speaker give his view of the Roosevelt-Harri- 



392 WITH spjvxkKr cannon TiiRouCii Tii]^ Tropics. 

man controversy?" queried a group of newspaper corre- 
spondents who came rushing up the gangway. 

Most decidedly the Speaker would not. It was not the 
Speaker's affair. 

"Will I\Ir. Sherman explain the attitude of the Republican 
National Congressional Committee ?" they persisted. 

Most decidedly Mr. Sherman would not. Mr. Sherman 
was too anxious to catch the train for Utica to indulge in 
any controversy. 

Yes, gentlemen of the press, we had a great trip. It had 
been enjoyable; at times novel and thrilling. 

"Glad to meet you boys, but no politics. This is the Sab- 
bath day," said the Speaker. 

So we grouped about the Speaker and ^FcKinley, and hav- 
ing submitted, as all good citizens do, to the regulations of 
the inspectors of customs, departed for our respective 
homes. 



CHAPTER XV. 

CONCLUSIONS. 

Summing- Up the Trip— The Monroe Doctrine— St. Domingo's 
Independence — General Grant and Annexation — Early Cuban 
Filibustering^ — English Critics of the West Indies — Slavery and 
Its Consequences — ''Our Duty as a Nation" — Porto Rico an 
Object Lesson — The Plea for Citizenship — Secretary Taft on 
Gratitude — Cuba's Curious Attitude — One More Trial and Then 
^Internal Improvements or Foreign Philanthropy? — The Cost 
of the Philippines — Our Field in the West Indies and South 
America — An Opportunity for Statesmanship. 

And now that the Speaker and my distinguished col- 
leagues have departed and we are no longer to hear the 
Bluechcrs rhythmical hugle-call to hreakfast, let us see 
whither our ohservations, as citizens of the United States, 
have led us. As most travelers do, we have returned to the 
United States prouder of our country and its form of 
government hecause of what we have seen and heard ahroad. 
We have taken note of phases of the new so-cahed "Colonial 
Policy" of the United States and have familiarized ourselves 
with the colonial methods of certain of the other great 
nations. Our inquiries in the continent of South America 
and our contact with some of its people have accentuated 
the oft-repeated complaint of consular and husiness ag-ents 
that too little attention has been paid by our own coimtry 
to our comniercial opportunities, or, if we look upon it in 
the altruistic sense, to "our mission" in the southern half 
of the Western Hemisphere. 

In our brief trip through Venezuela alone we had been 
brought face to face with a civilization older than our own, 
with refinement amongst the educated classes, and such pride 

393 



394 WITH SPIvVKKR CANxNJON THROUGH THIv TROriCS. 

and excliisiveness as betoken the spirit of ancient royalty. 
The achievements of this people in architecture and chaste 
memorials may have been curbed by hostile conditions, 
physical or climatic, but they admit no inference of mental 
inferiority. The great majority of the people of \>nezuela are 
indifferent and uneducated, as they are in the islands of the 
West Indies and in Panama, but intelligence of direction 
on the part of their leaders seems to lack only the power to 
maintain progress and stability. We recall — what few 
citizens of the United States pause to consider — that the 
population of South America is probably 50,000,000, which 
makes it, in the number of inhabitants at least, a very 
respectable competitor of the United States. In area it far 
outpoints the United States, the single Republic of Brazil, 
as we have seen, being greater in extent than the whole of 
our own country. We have observed, amongst the better 
class of South American officials and trades people, a 
disposition to regard themselves as worthy of more respect 
from great nations generally than the United States has 
been pleased to accord. They understand the Monroe 
Doctrine, and when it was first enunciated, in 1823, they 
were prepared to look upon the United States as a great 
deliverer. They were then, as they had been before, and 
have been since, in the throes of foreign and internecene 
wars. 

"We owe it, therefore," said President Monroe, in his 
seventh annual message, "to candor and to the amicable 
relations existing between the United States and those 
powers (European) to declare that we should consider any 
attempt* on their part to extend their system to any portion 
of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety." 

This important deliverance was not wholly philanthropic, 
for the United States was having its own troubles, par- 



CONClvUSIONi^. 395 

ticularly along the Florida coast, with foreign nations and 
with pirates, who were . committing depredations and 
exciting the Indians to revolt ; using our country as a haven 
for conspirators and filibusters, and otherwise disturbing 
the National peace. Spain, at that time, was one of the 
chief offenders, but other nations which had taken possession 
of islands of the West Indies were susceptible of embroil- 
ment at the slightest notice. Piracy and the slave trade 
prevailed throughout the Caribbean Sea. St. Domingo 
had declared its independence and driven the French from 
the island. Indeed, President Monroe, on a call from the 
House of Representatives, advised that body that "the 
whole island of St. Domingo is now united under one 
government, under a constitution which retains the sover- 
eignty in the hands of the people of color, and with pro- 
visions which prohibit the employment in the government 
of all white persons who have emigrated there since iSi6, 
or who may hereafter emigrate there, and which prohibit, 
also, by such persons, the right of citizenship or to real estate 
in the island." 

Mr. Monroe told the House of Representatives that no 
foreign power contemplated an invasion of St. Domingo, 
so asserting its sovereignty, but that ''the establishment of 
a government of people of color in the island on the 
principles above stated, evinces distinctly the idea of a 
separate interest and a distrust of other nations. Had that 
jealousy been confined to the inhabitants of the parent 
country, it would have been less an object of attention, but 
by extending it to the inhabitants of other countries with 
whom no difference ever existed, the policy assumes a 
character which does not admit of a like explanation." 
And then, showing that the United States must necessarily 
be interested in a sovereignty so proclaimed in St. Domingo, 
Mr. Monroe added: 



yj6 WITH SPKAKltR CANNON TlIROUGl-I TllK TROPICS. 

''Our commerce there has been subjected to higher duties 
than have been imposed on Hke articles from some other 
nations. It has, nevertheless, been extensive, proceeding 
from the wants of the respective parties and the enterprise 
of our citizens. Of this discrimination, to our injury, we 
had a right to complain, and have complained. It is 
expected that our commercial intercourse with the island 
will be placed on the footing of the most favored nation." 

Eight months following that declaration with regard to 
St. Domingo, the abuses of foreign powers in the West 
Indies and in Central and South America had reached such 
a pitch that the Monroe Doctrine was enunciated. 
-: Of all the islands whose peoples undertook to throw off 
the yoke of foreign powers, St. Domingo was alone suc- 
cessful. Elsewhere, notably in Cuba, Porto Rico and 
Jamaica, native revolutions were promptly crushed. The 
ships of war and the organized forces of England, Spain 
and France maintained supremacy over their island pos- 
sessions. St. Domingo, freed of French rule, her negro 
people speaking the French language, but driving out the 
whites, and depending largely upon the United States for 
their export trade, still found the experiment of native 
government hazardous. The older generation will remem- 
ber the sensation of JMay, 1870, when General Grant, 
then President of the United States, proposed to the Senate 
the ratification of a treaty annexing St. Domingo to the 
United States. We had just banished slavery from our own 
shores when, in his message. President Grant said: 

"I feel an unusual anxiety for the ratification of this 
treaty, because I believe it will redound greatly to the glory 
of the two countries interested, to civilization, and to the 
extirpation of the institution of slavery." 

He pleaded for the government of St. Domingo as a 



CONCI,USIONS. 397 

weak power, numbering less than 120,000 souls, "and yet 
possessing one of the richest territories under the sun, 
capable of supporting a population of 10,000,000 people in 
luxury. The people of St. Domingo are not capable of 
maintaining themselves in their present condition and must 
look for outside support." 

And although in his message he predicted some things 
that have not yet happened, his thought was upon the right 
of St. Domingo as a sovereignty to negotiate with other 
powers than the United States to the possible prejudice 
of the latter, and, that there might be no mistake as to the 
attitude of this country in that regard, he amplified the 
stand taken by President Monroe by announcing this new 
plank in the "hands off" platform. 

"The doctrine promulgated by President Monroe has 
been adhered to by all political parties, and I now deem it 
proper to assert the equally important principle that here- 
after no territory on this continent shall be regarded as 
subject of transfer to a European power." 

The negotiations for the ratification of the St. Domingo 
annexation treaty failed, but that we were not through with 
the West Indian problem was again manifested during 
General Grant's term, in questions arising in connection 
with the Cuban revolution. The Cubans were struggling 
for freedom from Spain, and again their agents were at 
work in the United States. The sympathy of this people in 
their behalf was being aroused, but, said President Grant 
to Congress, in December, 1869, "the contest has at no 
time assumed the conditions which amounted to a war, in 
the sense of international law, or which would show the 
existence of a de-facto political organization of the insur- 
gents sufficient to justify a recognition of belligerency." 
In June, 1870, he informed Congress, "if the insurrection 



398 WITH spi;aki:r cannox through the tropics. 

has not gained ground, it is clearly true that Spain has not 
suppressed it. * * "^^ On either side the contest has been 
conducted * * * with a lamentable disregard of human 
life and of the rules and practices which modern civilization 
has prescribed in mitigation of the necessary horrors of 
war. The torch of Spaniard and of Cuban is alike busy in 
carrying devastation over fertile regions ; murderous and 
revengeful decrees are issued and executed by both parties." 

He pictured the heartlessness and inhumanity of the 
generals on both sides of the contest, and then referred to 
"the large number of Cubans escaping- from the island and 
avoiding the risks of war; congregating in this country, at 
a safe distance from the scene of danger, and endeavoring 
to make war from our shores, to urge our people into the 
fight which they avoid, and to embroil this government in 
complications and possible hostilities with Spain." 

President Grant had very little sympathy with these 
long-distance trouble-makers, and likened their operations 
to the filibustering of Genet and the French revolutionists 
which embarrassed Washington: to the projects of ^liranda 
during the time of John Adams, and to the schemes of 
Aaron Burr which harassed Jefiferson. "The insurgents 
hold no town or city/' he said; "have no established seat of 
government ; they have no prize courts ; no organization for 
the receiving and collecting of revenue ; no seaport to which 
a prize may be carried, or through which access can be had 
by foreign power to the limited interior territory and com- 
mercial fastnesses which they occupied. The existence of 
a legislature rei)resenting any ]X)pular constituency is more 
than doubtful. \u the uncertainty that hangs around the 
entire insurrection there is no palpable evidence of an 
election, of any delegated authority, or of any government 
outside the limits of the camps occupied from day to day 



CONCLUSIONS. 399 

by the roving" companies of insurgent troops ; there is no 
commerce, no trade, either internal or foreign, no 
manufactures." 

This was the situation in Cuba, struggling for Uberty, 
in 1870. 

I am again reminded that TroUope and Froude, our 
eminent EngHsh authorities, had been investigating the 
colonial policy of England in the West Indies, and were 
finding fault with the system which had changed the British 
possessions from wonderfully productive and prosperous 
islands to communities of sloth, indifference and depression, 
following the emancipation of the slaves. It was in 1887, 
during the first term of President Cleveland, that Froude 
particularly deplored the loss of British prestige and the 
apparent decadence of the natives of the British West 
Indies. 

Of Jamaica, he reported ''the blacks were increasing so 
fast and the white influence was diminishing so fast that 
Jamaica, in a few years, would be another Hayti." The 
l)lanters who had governed in the old days, cheaply and 
on their own resources, whose authority was respected, no 
longer had power nor the incentive to develop their 
holdings. Some of them were longing for admission to 
the American Union, "but," said Froude, quoting one of 
his chief informants, "in Jamaica, at least, the blacks and 
mulattos would resist. There were nearly 700,000 of 
them, while of the whites there were but 15,000, and the 
relative numbers were every year becoming more unfavor- 
able. The blacks knew that under England they had 
nothing to fear; they would have everything more and 
more their own way, and in a short time they expected to 
have the island tO' themselves. They might collect arms ; 
they might do what they pleased, and no English officer 



400 WITH spi:aki;r cannon through thi: tropics. 

dared to use rough measures with them, while if. they 
belonged to the Union the whites would recover authority 
one way or another. The Americans were ready with their 
rifles on occasions of disorder, and their common country- 
men did not call them to account for it as we did. The 
blacks, therefore, preferred the liberty which they had, and 
the prospects to which they looked forward, and they and 
the mulattos also would fight, and fight desperately, before 
they would allow themselves to be made American citizens.'' 

And then, complaining of England's system of liberty 
in the West Indies, Froude, speaking as an Englishman, 
exclaimed : 

"We found slavery to be a crime ; we released our 
bondmen; we broke their chains, as we proudly described 
it to ourselves ; we compensated the owners, so far as money 
could compensate, for the entire dislocation of a state of 
society Avhich we had ourselves created, and we trusted to the 
enchantment of liberty to create a better in its place. '*' * * 
We had hitherto been dependent on the West Indies ; they 
ceased to be of commercial, they ceased to be of political 
nioment to us, and we left them to their own resources. 
Tlie modern English idea is that everyone must take care 
of himself. '^' * * Those who have gone thither have gone 
of their own free will, and must take the consequences of 
their own actions. * * '^ If they cannot stand, they must 
fall. This is our notion of education in 'manliness,' and for 
immediate purposes answers well enough. Individual 
enterprises, unendowed but unfettered, built the main 
1)uttressrs of the -Ih-itish Colonial Empire." 

l)Ut Fronde's story is almost too melancholy for perusal. 
He sim])ly saw no ho])e for the British West Indies as then 
administered. He had no faith in the natives left to their 
own resources. 



CONCI.USIONS. 40I 

We have seen that the people of St. Domingo were not 
particularly grateful to the French, who undertook to 
advance them in the ways of civilization, and that during 
the time of President Grant they came to the United States 
for annexation, because they felt incapable of governing 
themselves. Need we remind ourselves that during the 
present administration of President Roosevelt, we have been 
obliged, for the preservation of peace in St. Domingo, to 
take possession of the custom houses and practically 
direct the affairs of the government? Or need it be added 
that for the purpose of negotiating the debt of the island, 
New York capitalists are furnishing the proceeds of 
$20,000,000 of bonds? 

Surely Jamaica, to say nothing of the other islands of the 
British West Indies, has shown no especial mark of grati- 
tude to the far-off mother country for her efforts in 
civilizing the natives or in ultimately granting them their 
freedom; for if Trollope and Froude are to be believed, 
liberty without a fostering governmental direction has 
been of small avail in advancing the natives, intellectually 
or morally, or of improving their financial condition. Nor 
lias the effect been particularly encouraging in the matter 
of population. 

Cuba and Porto Rico may serve as illustrations more 
directly associated with the United States. Neither of 
these has reared any monument to the ennobling or civilizing 
influences of Spain. In times of revolution and disturbance, 
they appealed to the United States for assistance, and 
expressed their momentary gratitude when the heavy hand 
of Spain was stayed, but there they rested. How grateful 
is Cuba to-day for being accorded a sovereignty which 
she has been unable to maintain ! Let us quote an eminent 
American authority. 
26 



402 ^\■1TH spkake:r cannon through thi: tropics. 

In his admirable paper upon our "National Altruism," 
Secretary Taft, summing up our treatment of Cuba, Porto 
Rico and the Philippines, observes : 

"There have been many expressions at various times, 
showing that at such times a feeling of gratitude existed, 
but he who would measure his altruism by the^ good-will 
and sincere thankfulness of those whom he aids will not 
persist in good works. * ''' * The character of the benefits 
we have conferred on these Spanish-speaking peoples is 
such as nccessaril}' to imply our sense of greater capacit}' 
for self-government and our belief that we represeni a 
higher civilization. This in itself soon rankles in the bosom 
of the native and dries up the flower of gratitude. - ''' "' '•' 
And then," adds the distinguished Secretary, following the 
generous trend of American sentiment, "it is natural that it 
should be so ; we cannot help it. It is insei)arable from the 
task we undertake. Our reward must be in the pleasure 
of pushing the cause of civilization and in increasing the 
opportunity for progress to those less fortunate than our- 
selves in their environment, and not in their gratitude." 

But, after all. how^ far is our generous colonial system to 
go? Spain's exercise of colonial dominion extended 
through several centuries and wound up disastrously. The 
burden fell to us. France yielded up a part of her colonial 
possessions, but continues others in the \\ est Indies ni a 
desultory fashion. England, more as a matter of pride, it 
would seem, than for reasons of commercial importance, 
retains her hold upon her West Indian possessions. Son.ie 
of them are progressing and some are not. What the cost 
has been to Si:)ain. to France and to England, we may not 
even surmise, but we have from Secretary Taft the figures 
as to the cost to the L'nited States of our cnkmial posses- 
sions in the West Indies and the Philippines. 



CONCT.UvSlONS. 403 

"We expended in the Cuban AVar," he tells us, "upwards 
of $300,000,000, and we never have invited from Cuba the 
return of a single cent." I have already quoted the War 
Secretary's estimate of the things done for Cuba and for 
Porto Rico. 

"In establishing order in the Philippines,'' he informs us, 
"we expended $170,000,000," and then answering a certain 
line of argument, adds : "It may be objected that the $170,- 
000,000 or more expended by the United States in sup- 
pressing the insurrection in the Philippines w^as not for the 
benefit of the Filipino people, resulting, as it did, in the death 
of many. This is a narrow view. No money or blood was 
ever spent more directly for the benefit of a people than 
this. ■'' '■- * The war was deplorable, but no other possible 
alternative was open to us in the discharge of our duty as a 
nation." 

"Our duty as a nation !" In that single sentence, wanu- 
hearted Secretary Taft speaks with all the kindliness and 
indulgence of the great American people. Having no other 
alternative, he presents the condition that confronts us. On 
one side of the account, "for the development and upbuilding 
of Porto Rico, the preservation of peace in Cuba, and the 
education and civilizing of the Philippines," we are charged 
with the expenditure of $300,000,000 of the revenues of the 
l/nited States ; on the other side of the account we are 
credited with "Our duty as a nation." The problem first 
confronted us nine years ago. It was thrust upon us, and we 
accepted it. It has not resulted in profit to the United States, 
except as we may regard it profitable to take of our own 
substance and bestow it upon other and less favored people. 
Kortunatel}', we are at peace with the world and may now 
discuss the entire question calmly. If the situation were 
otherwise, w^e would doubtless continue to carry our burden 



404 WITH SPKAKKR CANNON THROUGH TUt TROPICS. 

and not discuss it at all. How far, then, does the duty of 
the United States as almoner and protector of restless islands 
extend? Is it our duty, in the case of Porto Rico, to at 
once admit that island to citizenship equal to that of ]\Iaine 
or California, when we deny it to Arizona and New ^Mexico? 

The United States has taken up the task of governing- 
Porto Rico. The advantage of this government is altogether 
Avith the Porto Ricans. Small questions of difference have 
arisen, and will arise, but the material growth of the people 
since the period of the Spanish regime outweighs them all. 
Some of the Porto Ricans are discontented because they have 
been long suffering. Some of the leaders are anxious for 
honors and emoluments. ^lutterings and fervid appeals of 
agitators mislead the ignorant and delay the uplift of the 
people, but the general results to date are satisfactory. Porto 
Rico is making progress. She has impressed the President 
and other great Americans with her sincerity and worth, and 
her destiny seems assured. 

"Show that you are capable of self-government," says 
Speaker Cannon. He might have added, for the benefit of 
the agitator, "Show that your self-government can rise above 
intrigue and demagogery; that education and industry have 
an abiding place in your development, and when you have 
thus equipped yourself for citizenship, who will say that 
Porto Rico, no longer 'a ward of the nation,' shall not enjov 
the fullest rights and privileges of our Federal Union?" 
I do not wish to speak unkindly of the Porto Rican situa- 
tion. The island does and should belong to the Ignited 
States. It is ])roductive and fair to look upon. Its resi- 
dents. com])ared with those of the (^thcr West Indies, im- 
])ress one fav()ral)ly ; but the casual o1)server cannot fail to 
see that tlie great mass of the ])co])le — the men who would 
vote if citizenship were immediately given — have but too 



CONCLUSIONS. 405 

recently passed out of the Spanish yoke to be free of the 
machinations of designing leaders, or to act intelligently 
upon questions of government. The American officials are 
inspiring confidence, the public schools are doing good work 
and our "duty as a nation" is being honorably performed. We 
have now only to decide whether the Porto Rican of mixed 
blood and speaking the Spanish language — receiving protec- 
tion and appropriations from the United States, and given 
the right to vote for local officials and law-makers — shall 
also be accorded the right to vote upon the affairs of the 
Federal Union. This privilege we long ago denied the 
aboriginal Indian. The negro had it not until after the War 
of the Rebellion. We do not accord it to the intelligent 
foreigner desiring American citizenship until he has resided 
in the United States for five years. We withhold it from 
our native-born Americans until they are twenty-one years 
of age. In some of the States we now prevent its exercise 
by illiterates and others not conforming to certain tests, and 
in the case of women, except in some of the States, we refuse 
it altogether. 

In Cuba, ''our duty as a nation" presents a dift'erent con- 
dition. For more than a century the turbulence of the 
island has been a menace to the peace of the United States. 
We drew upon our blood and treasure to liberate the Cubans 
and they proved unworthy. And yet, we have put the 
Cubans on their feet commercially and have cut down our 
own revenues to help along their trade. We have done all 
this and maintained peace upon the island with a forebear- 
ance that amounts to self-sacrifice. 

How long will this sacrifice continue to be "our duty" ? 

The President has given assurance that when, under our 
protection, Cuba again establishes her government, she 
shall have a fair trial. That promise the American people 



4o6 WITH spi:aki:r cannon Through thi: tropics. 

will keep ; l)ut if with this second chance to do the right, 
Cuba fails to put herself in line with stable governments, 
what then ? Must we forever come and go at the beck and 
call of this one island whose entire population is no greater 
than that of the city of Chicago? Shall our purse-strings 
always be open and our army and navy ever ready to rush 
away from the forty-six loyal American States when Cuba 
calls? Does our "duty as a nation" mean that we shall dance 
and also "pay the fiddler" for every set of faking Cuban 
patriots that pull the strings? "Annexation," Speaker Can- 
non says, "is a word that irritates." True, but quoting Secre- 
tary Taft again, we find that, though we expended $300,000,- 
000 in the Cuban War, "we never have invited from Cuba 
the return of a single cent." A good thing for Cuba — and 
yet there she stands, her best men fearful of the prospect of 
the Provisional Government's recall, and her masses, un- 
mindful of all the United States has done for her, demanding 
that the power of the Government be restored to their hands. 

General Grant feared that St. Domingo as an independent 
government might, in her extremity, negotiate her annexa- 
tion to hostile foreign powers. For that reason he ad- 
vanced the INIonroe Doctrine to the point of declaring that 
"hereafter no territory on this continent shall be regarded 
as subject of transfer to a foreign power." It is not to be 
presumed that Cuba, again independent, would dare to un- 
dertake a foreign alliance or that any foreign power would 
care to enter into such negotiations, and yet such an alliance, 
where the government is weak and unstable, is amongst the 
vexing possibilities, when Cuba is again free to act for 
herself. 

"The thing needful," said Speaker Cannon, commenting 
upon various islands of the West Indies, "is a stable govern- 
ment." I apply his thought to Cuba. If the native govern- 



CONCLUSIONS. 407 

nient again fails in stability, may not the American people 
fairly insist that the time has come to protect Cuba against 
her foes, within or without, by annexation ? The experiment 
is working well in Porto Rico. It could not fail to do so in 
Cuba, which is so much closer to the United States. Under 
all circumstances we are bound to protect Cuba. In the 
event of her own failure, shall we continue to govern her by 
proxy at our own great expense and annoyance, or shall we 
end the trouble once for all in the way the United States may 
be trusted to end it — firmly, but with justice and humanity, 
and with due regard to the right of Cubans to "the pursuit 
of life, liberty and happiness" ? 

Such assurance the United States, if called upon, is amply 
able to give. It was never known to the Cuban people under 
the Spanish regime, and it certainly failed to materialize 
under their own form of government. 

Porto Rico and Cuba are both worthy the friendly con- 
sideration of the United States. Together with the other 
islands of the West Indies, they are a part of the continent 
of which the United States is a part. They are so close to 
the United States as to amply justify the doctrine of Presi- 
dent IMonroe against the further acquisition of territory on 
this continent by European powers. Studied geographically, 
the whole West Indies would seem to be a part of us. Mil- 
lions of natives, in whom we show little huniane or philan- 
thropic interest, inhabit them. They are waiting for the civ- 
ilizing. Christianizing influences of the United States. Pro- 
lific in agricultural products, coffee, cocoa, tobacco, fruit; in 
hardwoods and mineral wealth — we pass them by with little 
thought of their possibilities or commercial usefulness. To 
the south of them is the wonderfully fertile South American 
continent — part of the same hemisphere as our own, and yet 
but irtdififerently knOwn to us. The Southern Republics are 



4o8 wiTi-i spe:ake:r cannon through the: tropics. 

doing business with England, Germany, France and Japan. 
In all their life and trade we are but casually represented. 
If the duty of the nation is to uplift and support the weak, 
what an opportunity the West Indies, under our direction, 
would afford. If commercial expansion be our aim, where 
a fairer field than South x\merica ? And what more reason- 
able? The same Cuban War which involved us in a $300,- 
0100,000 expenditure brought us the Philippines. Dewey 
and destiny placed in our care 7,000,000 black people thou- 
sands of miles across the seas. They are more remote from 
us than the West Indies are from the controlling European 
powers. The expense of taking and maintaining the Philip- 
pines has been $170,000,000, enough if applied to the deepen- 
ing of inland waterways in the United States to complete 
the Lakes-to-the-Gulf project along the Mississippi Valley 
and the chain of inland waterways along the Atlantic Coast 
from Massachusetts to North Carolina. We maintain civil 
officials and 12,000 of the flower of the United States Ar;my 
in the Philippines. If we had to defend the islands from 
attack by water it would doubtless engage the entire navy 
of the United States. We would fight for the Philippines 
to "the last ditch." That is the temper of the American 
people. We would not yield them by compulsion, but when 
no hostile power threatens, why not take counsel of each 
other ? 

The Philippines are far away; they are troublesome and 
expensive and our hold upon them is unnatural. We had 
no desire to acquire them and our dignity need not be 
offended if in some honorable manner we could manage to 
dispose of them. With the West Indies it is different. In 
these fair islands — at our very door, there is sufficient oppor- 
tunity for "National Altruism" to gratify the most unselfish 
spirit. We could enter upon this neighboring field with the 



CONCLUSIONS. 409 

confidence of obtaining" some return for our expenditure or 
our benevolence. Tbe Philippines are of little coninicrcial 
value to us — the West Indies would be. The Panama Canal 
when completed will make more attractive the markets of 
South America and the West Indies. We have reason to 
be stirring ourselves, that these markets may not be entirely 
swept away from us. In this regard alone the island ap- 
proaches would be invaluable to us. What do we need in 
the Philippines more than a coaling station for naval pur- 
poses or a harbor for vessels engaged in the transportation 
of American commerce ? What more than these in the West 
Indies do foreign nations require? The day of the bucca- 
neer is gone, and the day of industrial expansion is at hand. 
Great nations are warring with each other not for martial 
glory, 1:)ut in legitimate and commendable contests for com- 
mercial supremacy. It is, after all, a war of the brains and 
1)rawn of the nations. The United States is engaged in this 
world battle to the extent only of five per cent, of her great 
manufacturing and agricultural output. Has she the time 
or patience to extend it through the Philippines? And if 
she had, would her efforts in that direction compensate her 
for the expenditure and the risk? Is it her business to re- 
main there if she can honorably withdraw and devote her 
money and the lives of her soldiers and sailors to worthy 
causes nearer home ? 

"We can't settle this in a day," said Speaker Cannon, re- 
ferring to the Cuban complications. No more can we settle 
the tremendous problem of the Philippines in a day. They 
stand on our national books as both an asset and a liability. 
Shall they remain with us forever, a charge upon our bounty 
to the prejudice of closer ties, or shall we let them go? The 
sky to-day is clear ; it may not be so always. What, then, if 
some bright morning there should flash across the world the 



4IO WITH SPEAKER CA^TNON THROUGH TIIK TROPICS. 

startling news that calm and thoughtful statesmanship had 
found a way to end our strange alliance, to return to us our 
soldiers, sailors, teachers and statesmen from the Philippines 
for employment in more inviting fields in the West Indies 
and the great continent beyond ! 

I purposely put the argument in the form of questions, 
because it is impossible, in the absence of a plan of pro- 
cedure, to declare a fixed policy. I believe the United States 
would be benefited if it could, in some honorable way, rid 
itself of control of the Philippines and assume control of the 
West Indies. The Philippines cannot, in the nature of 
things, be made an integral part of this great nation ; the 
\Vest Indies might be absorbed and, in course of time, be 
made as truly a part of the United States politically as they 
now are geographically. 

But how this "consummation devoutly to be wished" is to 
be brought about is a problem that cannot now be solved, 
and is best presented by an interrogation point — the 
"crooked, little thing that asks questions." 



THIv I^ND. 



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